


Pythagorician Thoughts

by LutiasKokopelli



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AU of an AU, Gen, PermaBipper, demon!dipper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:59:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6624205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LutiasKokopelli/pseuds/LutiasKokopelli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing he knows for sure is that since that ridiculously stupid accident, he won't be able to know anything for sure anymore. And he so doesn't like it. After all, when Bill Cipher finds himself trapped in Dipper's harmless body with the horrifyingly annoying and frightening idea that Pine Tree has now got the powers of a dream demon, nothing can go wrong. Right?</p><p>It all started with that dumb carpet. Unless maybe this simply was the last straw that would finally break everyone's masks... The real question is: when did it really begin?<br/>Among the lies and acts that split a whole family apart, 'trust no one' never has got such importance; even towards your best friends.</p><p>The Pines are a family of pathological liars after all. Aren't they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys. First thing is, English is not my mother language. I apologize for the potential mistakes and I hope this won't disrupt your reading; and if you feel like helping, feel free to tell me whenever you see some. I don't bite, and I know that no matter how much work I put into this, it can't be perfect.  
> Plus, seriously guys, I love it when you point out some flaws and/or want to debate over some details that you're disagreeing on. Really, that's very interesting and I just love critics.
> 
> Regarding the plot… I won't lie to you guys: it'll be tough. Let's say that this fiction is basically written from its conclusion, and that the beginning of the fiction is definitely not the actual beginning of the story (which really started about three weeks earlier, maybe... I intentionally try not to get too specific, sorry, because it's kind of part of the plot and should be considered as potential spoilers :p). Long story short, this story is an AU (and even if it may not look that obvious at first, you would probably have figured it out by yourself while noticing some details in the background that seem... off), but I'm not telling you what kind of AU it'll be, and part of the plot and the fun in reading this fiction is to get you to figure out by yourself what actually has happened (even before wondering about what is about to happen). What I mean is, the characters all know quite a few things that you don't, that seem obvious and completely normal to everyone but you, and that they will never talk about because that'd be just stupid to talk about it, and even to the narration it would seem awkward to point out. So if you want to know what really is going on, you'll have either to wait for the last chapters (or the "Interludes", which are mostly some flashbacks from before the beginning of the fiction and are meant to clear out some details), or to really keep open mind and eyes while reading. I try to let some hints just the way Alex did in the show, so if you're into theorizing and all that stuff, then have fun here. The mysteries are of course not as complex as the original show's and the hints are much easier to find and analyze (I'll even put some more whenever I make fan arts) because I'm definitely not Alex, but still, if you want to have some fun, then I'm just warning you here: there will be both references to the "backstory", and some foreshadowings and symbolics. Oh, and also, I love being a troll and be as ambiguous as it is legally and morally possible. You've been warned.
> 
> But keep in mind that just like the show, this fiction is not specifically meant to be about conspirations and mysteries (if that were the case, then the mysteries involved would be much tougher, I tell you); it's mostly about psychology and characters, actually. As the title may suggest and all the chapters' titles refer, the three "main" characters (in the way that they are the ones with most influence, I guess) are Dipper, Mabel and Bill; but they are not alone, and every character depicted (and even sometimes, some characters that won't be depicted) is deeply analyzed and has a specific role in that fiction... And a specific psychology. A psychology that, before anything, tries to stick to the canon before anything. I'll repeat my three main rules while writing a plot here: coherence (both towards the original show and the universe depicted in the fiction), credibility (deep and complex psychology that would seem as """canon""" and """real""" as possible), and, well... Murphy's Law. I just love that one, and you'll see also how much I just love humoristic sarcasm. Especially in the narration.  
> The rating is not very high because I'm not really into creepy-gory disturbing things. Know that when I torture my characters, I only do that with their minds. That's much more subtle yet violent, and so much funnier — at least in my opinion. There will never be anything I like more in a fiction than a psychological war between great calculating minds. Even though psychological wars themselves are always fascinating.

_Pythagorician Thoughts  
**Prologue — Obtuse Ideals**_

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

_I just can't remember how this happened. Why this happened._

*.*

Scratch.

.*.

_I can't recall why we were at this place, at this moment. I don't even know why I can't recall this. But I just can't._

*.*

He doesn't have the choice. Or he will lose her.

.*.

_I don't even know why I was there. I must have had a completely random and stupid idea._

*.*

His right hand is heavy. And not only because of the thick, red book he's holding.  
He doesn't want to do this. He can't. His whole summer spent looking for the truth, all of this leading to _this_?  
But he can't lose her. He has no choice.

Scratch, scratch.

.*.

_I don't know what I was thinking at that time. I **knew** this would happen. Since the very beginning I knew it.  
And yet I didn't do anything to avoid it. I just let it happen._

*.*

He stops. He looks through those eyes, trying to face _Him_. But his eyes can only show his despair. He just can't face _that_. Even though he knows _that's_ _not her_ , he just can't help but see her at this place.  
But it's **not her**. And he will lose her if he doesn't do something quickly.

Scratch. Scratch, scratch.

 _He_ is grinning. This kind of smile seems so creepy on that face. And so unnatural.  
She doesn't deserve this.  
His hand is shaking.

.*.

_I can't remember why I chose that option. I mean, I **could** have avoided it if I wanted it. I had the possibility to do it from the very beginning.  
So **why** did I let it go on like this?_

*.*

Scratch.

He can't. He stops again. The grin disappears, but _His_ eyes are even angrier than before.  
But he has the choice. He **has** to.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch…

.*.

_I kinda feel like I'm remembering. Oh, nothing extraordinary, it's just a faraway little feeling that… somehow tells me what I was thinking at that moment.  
I must've been curious. I wanted to know._

_And I wanted to have fun. I thought that would be fun._

*.*

**Glare.**

.*.

_I was so dumb._

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

.*.

 _VKLQLQJ OLJKW, VFDWWHUHG PHPRUB_  
_JROGHQ VWULQJ LQ DQ DCXUH VHD_  
_KH ZDQWV WR NQRZ, KH NQRZV KH OLHG  
_ _VWXEERUQ SXSSHW DQG FUBLQJ FKLOG_

 _KRZ GR BRX OLNH WKH ULVLQJ GDZQ  
_ _ZKHQ BRX IRUJHW WR ZDWFK WKH ODZQ_

*.*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who are curious, here is some random fan art depicting the decoded version of this prologue's cryptogram : lutias. deviantart. com/ art/ DECODED-PT-s-Prologue-594060714


	2. Chapter I — Part 1

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter I — First Part_ **  
**_An Equilateral Vision of Things_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

_Everything hurts._

Here was his first thought as he slowly regained his consciousness, his hand hardly managing to reach his – so _painful_ – head.  
That definitely was an _agonizing_ headache. It was even so difficult for him to at least just _think_ clearly and figure out what the _hell_ had been going on so that he'd be feeling _that much pain_ …

Wait a minute.

He struggled to try to get up from whatever he was lying on, but it was even more _painful_. But now he had definitely noticed that it was not a single illusion.  
He was _feeling pain_. And it **hurt**.  
Something was definitely off. He absolutely had to figure out what. And quickly.

And to do this he first needed to know where he was.

He struggled again, trying to move at least a little, but it was so _painful_. And now that he was thinking of it, he felt so much _heavier_ than usual. He didn't like it. And now he just _definitely_ wanted to figure out what was _so terribly wrong_ with this actual **_pain_** that was hurting **way too much**.

He painfully tried to open his eyes to get to see the surroundings and—

Wait again. His _eye_ , he meant. Right? _Right_ …?

_Oh boy._

That was wrong. _So horrifyingly damn **wrong**_.

"Oh come on wake up already. I know you can hear me."

He knew that voice. And it sounded just clear, light, normal.  
It sounded real. It was making real noises from real vibrations of the real air made by real vocal cords.

And he _so_ didn't like it. It meant so much worse things than he had even figured out since then.

He suddenly felt like something was pulling him up. And not in the most kind way.

"WAKE UP YOU STUPID ISOSCELES COWARD! Or equilateral. Or WHATEVER!"

 _Ugh_ , it was painful. Even more than before.  
He struggled again, opening completely his _eyes_ and preparing to gently ask Shooting Star to please let him go because that was _hurting_ , whatever she was doing.

"ENOUGH! LET GO OFF ME _NOW_!"

Maybe that wasn't _that_ gentle, but _come on_. That hurt. And how dared she doing that to _him_?! He was an omnipotent and omniscient dream demon, _she_ was the one expected to be respectful towards him!  
… But he was in Pine Tree's body, apparently. He had heard Pine Tree's voice when he had spoken, so it logically meant that he was in his body. And this could explain many, _many_ things.

He didn't remember having possessed him though. Pine Tree was _not_ the target, this time.

"Tell me." Shooting Star eventually muttered in the same tone as if she had been spitting at his face.

She hadn't moved at all. She just kept her angry look, pulling him by the collar of Pine Tree's shirt.

"Tell _what_?" he asked in an exasperated tone.  
"You perfectly know what I mean." Her tight became stronger and he felt as if breathing was becoming more and more difficult.  
"I don't— Really—" he articulated while trying to keep his lungs full of enough healthy air to stay alive.

Her look intensified. Her grip too, but as he started to raise his hands to his neck and perfectly showed she was starting to seriously strangle him, she finally let his feet reach the ground. But she was still maintaining this grip like she would grip a lifebuoy in the middle of the ocean.

"Dipper." she moaned. "Where is Dipper?"  
"Pine Tree? How should I know?"

He felt a sudden and huge pain on his left cheek.  
At least _that_ was some pain he already knew. This one was quite funny, compared to the other ones. It was echoing again and again, as to follow the pulsation of any music which could have been playing on it. He liked this one. Pretty hilariously musical pain.

"Don't play dumb with me. You know what happened, right? So tell me. Where – is – _he_?"  
"Seems like you're holding him in your hands? At least his _body_." He smirked.

She pulled him up again. The pain seemed even stronger than before. And he didn't like that one. It wasn't musical at all. It was just _painful_. That was it.

"Just let go off me!" he jerked angrily. "How should I know where Pine Tree is?!"  
"You just know _everything_ , stupid! So for the last time answer me! **_WHERE_** _— IS — HE_?!"  
"What the heck are you talking about, I told you already I—!"

Silence. He had suddenly stopped, and for the very first time Mabel saw in his eyes something she would have never, _ever_ expected to see.

 _Fear_.

 _Bill Cipher_ was **scared**.

She was now way too stunned and anxious to keep pulling his collar.

"I-I…" he stuttered absent-mindedly, looking at the ground and slightly shivering.

Bill Cipher, the omniscient and omnipotent dream demon, was **_terrified_**.  
Something wasn't right. Something was really, _really_ **not right**.

Mabel also was scared of what he would say. If _Bill Cipher_ was **freaking out** , there was definitely a reason to freak out. In the 'holy bloody Moses we're so doomed' way of freaking out.

His lips seemed to be trembling, as if saying those three words were just as frightening as the mere fact of figuring out their real and deepest meaning.

"I **_don't_** know."

She didn't answer. She just looked at him absent-mindedly, her mouth hardly open, incomprehension in her eyes.  
She didn't even blink. She was just staying still.

"… What?"  
"I-I just told you – I don't know. I— just _why_? I-I don't understand I c-can't even _remember_ what happened and—"  
"Dipper already told me that part."

There was a huge and awkward silence.

"What do you mean?" Bill asked warily.  
"Dipper told me what happened. Not in details and I'm not sure I completely got it, but he tried to explain what has happened."  
"You don't need me since you know more than I do, then."  
"I do. He disappeared right after he gave my body back."

This made him literally jump, to the point that he almost lost his balance.  
He was clearly not used to physical bodies yet. Gravity was such a killjoy—

But that was not the point. He needed to focus, for once.

"Wait. He _WHAT_?"  
"You heard well. He gave my body back, by himself and…" She suddenly paused and suspiciously narrowed her eyes. "But why should I tell _you_ in the first place?"

Bill crossed his arms on his chest and shrugged.

"You want Pine Tree back. I wanna know what the heck is going on. I think that's a good deal here Shooting Star. And one hundred percent safe, for once."

She pouted, staying still and glaring at him for at the very least ten seconds.

"Right."

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '


	3. Chapter I — Part 2

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter I — Second Part_ **  
**_An Equilateral Vision of Things_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

"No. Way."

Bill kneeled down and picked the label, reading the name of that mischievous object that had apparently been the origin of all this mess. His plans were ruined by a **_carpet_**?!

"The electron carpet." Mabel uttered in a serious tone. "Dipper and I dealt with it once before, and I can tell you that wasn't really the best day of our lives."  
"Yeah, I guess so." he mumbled in a nervous smirk, forcing himself to laugh awkwardly even though he wouldn't have fooled anyone present in the room, if anyone were there besides Shooting Star and him.

Why wasn't he remembering that? Of course he would have known about that devilish carpet, he knew _everything_!  
So why not anymore…?

"The way it works is because of static electricity or some other nerd stuff Dipper would've easily explained to you."  
"Yeah. You scratch it, then you touch someone. And then something magical happens and you're in big trouble."  
"You switch minds. Or something like that."

She suddenly stopped. She stayed still, glaring at that carpet even if it seemed that anger was not quite destined to that stupid experiment.  
Then she talked again, in a voice which was even deeper and lower than before. Fact that seemed impossible at first.

"Dipper jumped on you. He was trying to stop you."  
"Oh, _come on_. I'm supposed to be a being of _pure energy_ and _no_ _physical matter_ at all, that stupid static electricity thing shouldn't have worked! It can't have happened that way, I mean, he would've passed through me and that would've been completely useless, that's all. I thought Pine Tree was smarter than that."

Mabel raised her angry eyes towards him.

"You were _possessing me_. Can't you even remember at least _that_?"

There was a pause.

"Oh."

And there was another one, even more awkward than the last one. Bill started to scratch nervously his left arm while looking away.

"I suppose that solves the problem, then." he mumbled shyly.  
"I can't believe you just… _don't_ remember that. That was what, hardly _three hours ago_? Did that sudden blackout of yours also blow your mind or something?"  
"Look kid, I-I… I just don't know, okay? B-But I can't tell you why. This just doesn't make sense…"

She held her chin with her right hand, obviously trying to remember something.

"Dipper did tell me some nerd stuff about that actually. Like the carpet thing messing up and the switch not being entirely done because of flat batteries — he didn't say that but it sounded somehow like it — and then it was somewhat a transfer of minds but not of energy or… _ugh_ , that was quite complicated the words he used, I'm sure I never ever heard him saying them before. I'm even sure he'd never seen any of them in any of his books. I mean, of course he likes reading nerd things and using strange words sometimes but those sounded really—"  
"Dammit." Bill jerked while interrupting her, hitting his right hand on his forehead as to face-palm. Although that was a pretty anxious one. His eyes couldn't lie.

Once again, Mabel glanced at the former dream demon. Apparently he had understood what had happened, and it wasn't good. Not good for _him_ , at the very least.

"Well, what I understood in the end is that he somehow got your powers. That's how he managed to find a way out of my body and let me back in I guess." she uttered.

But she narrowed her eyes and sadly looked back at the ground.

"And that's when he disappeared completely and wouldn't answer when I called him."  
"Well, seems pretty logical to me then!" Bill angrily said, rising abruptly his arms to the ceiling in irritation. "That dumb carpet just swapped our _minds_ , and all the rest just stayed in the body it was in before! _Ugh_ , just _COME ON_ …"  
"I… I don't get it. You lost me at 'logical'." Mabel muttered awkwardly.

Bill faced her with the angriest look she had ever seen on that face. _Dipper's_ face.  
She couldn't help but wonder what Bill Cipher would be looking like if he were in his true form at this very instant.  
Though she actually certainly didn't want to know.

He was shaking with anger, but eventually tried to control his temper and stay calm as he deeply sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay. Let's get things clear then." he finally whispered exasperatedly. "Long story short, that stupid carpet of yours basically got Pine Tree to get my powers _and_ my omniscience. And left me half amnesic. Clear enough?"  
"Wow…" Shooting Star uttered slowly, completely amazed.

She blinked many times, as if it could help her realize the true meaning of what the former dream demon was implying.

"That sounds fun." she smiled.  
"NO IT'S _NOT_!" he suddenly cried hysterically, completely freaking out this time. He tried to take a breath in order to regain his composure, but even if his tone was lower, his attitude was just as panicked as before. "Listen kid, you have _no idea_ what's going on. All that power and knowledge, you can't even _imagine_ what it is. That's just **too much** for your tiny human brains!"  
"What do you mean…?"

Bill's hands were shaking in midair, as he was biting his lip and tried to find the words which could explain her. But as he couldn't focus on simple sentences to tell her, his fear got over it again. For a couple of seconds he seemed about to blow up, and that was exactly what he did eventually.

"In probably less than a second he's been from a mere kid's normal knowledge to _all_ the bloody secrets of the entire _multiverse_ , you fool! Now he knows just everything and he can do about anything and he could even be watching us right now and you know what that's exactly what he's doing now, he's watching us even if we can't see him and heck he just went to learn every single thing about any single darn thing in less than a mere second that'll drive him completely **_insane_**!"  
"Insane like you, uh?" Mabel grinned ironically while crossing her arms.

This mere comment cut him short. He stayed still, both his hands in midair and his facial expression completely in shock and disbelief. Couldn't she take that conversation _seriously_?!  
… Though she _was_ maybe somewhat right. Or whatever.

Shooting Star suddenly put her hand on his shoulder.

" _Come on_ , just get your breath back." she said in a tentative to reassure him. "That's _Dipper_ we're talking about, he'll _totally_ get over it. He'd never go _"insane"_. He'll have good use of those, at least—"

Oh. _Oh_ now she started to get it.

"Yeah." she smirked. "Dipper would _definitely_ have a better use of those crazy powers than _you_. And _that's_ why you're freaking out, you stupid selfish triangle—"  
"W-Wait— NO! I-I'm _not_ joking Shooting Star, _nobody_ could stand this that's way too much and that's _exactly_ why I'm starting to forget everything and why I just fainted three hours ago alright?!"  
"What do you mean?"  
"You actually were right when you wanted to ask me to tell you where Pine Tree is because I _did_ know everything. But it's during that blackout that I started forgetting most of it."

Bill didn't need the ability to read minds to read on her face the question _"How so?"_

"Oh _come on_. Did you really think it's physically possible to keep all the secrets of the universe into a stupid tiny human brain?! You **_can't_**!"  
"You didn't seem to have that much problems with that when you were possessing me."  
"That's because I was _possessing_ your body, I was not **_stuck_** in it!"

That indeed made sense. Mabel nodded slowly, though her eyes were still glancing angrily at him.

"But Dipper still wouldn't do any harm to anyone. Not the way you did! There's no way to freak out like that, I'm sure he wouldn't even want to harm _you_ without a good reason anyway."  
"Pine Tree wouldn't indeed."

Mabel froze and narrowed her eyes before she had time to show him they were actually widening. Her breath went sharp.

That was a short cut.  
She so didn't like this tone.

"Okay. So what is it you now are implying exactly?" she asked in a deep voice. She so didn't want to show _him_ she was afraid of what would come out of his mouth.  
"Pine Tree wouldn't do anything alright." he shrugged. "But a _dream demon_? Come on. Now that he's got that much power and knowledge, he's basically become a dream demon himself. You know what _demons_ do."  
"But—"  
"Listen to me" he rose angrily his voice. "That much knowledge and that much power will _change_ him. It will change him on a scale you can't even conceive. I could hardly keep calling him 'Pine Tree' anymore."  
"You're lying—"  
"You can already consider your brother's **_dead_** , Shooting Star."

That tone was so monotone. Hearing that sentence from a so familiar — and at the very same time so _un_ familiar voice — seemed so eerie.  
Mabel was like in a trance. She was slowly shaking her head from left to right.  
_That couldn't be…_ He _had_ to be wrong!

Yet she could still hear him mumbling carelessly, almost to himself, as to tell a joke. Those sounds resonated from so far away, she could even have believed there was some kind of invisible wall between them. She wasn't even looking at him anymore, her eyes merely wandering between the bluish hairs of that dumb carpet. Only those same words were echoing in her mind again and again, laughing at her helplessness.

_Dipper wasn't dead... Dipper couldn't be dead... Yet it made so much sense. Dipper could've been dead. Dipper could be dead. Dipper would be dead. Dipper was dead._

**_DIPPER IS DEAD._ **

"But why would you even care? From what I remember, it's some good news for you not to have him in the way anymore, right? I mean, not like he was happy you finally got a real boyfriend and—"

His breath was cut short when a violent pain on the left part of his mouth drove him to crash into the carpet.

"YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Bill looked up at her.  
Her right fist clenched. Her mouth open. Panting. Her eyes trembling.  
No doubt about it then. She really had punched him right in the face.

"Y-You… How c-could you…" Shooting Star whispered in a shaky voice, her eyes still falling in his — _devilishly_ — sarcastic glare.

She still cared about him. Even after what had happened for the past few weeks, she still loved her brother. She still wanted to fix everything. She would have done anything to have her brother back.

And that was exactly what she had done.

And because of this… that was her fault then if…

.

Tears were so warm. But why would her eyes feel so cold then?

.

But then she remembered. She remembered that _he_ had known that it would have happened. Maybe he could not remember it now that he'd forgotten almost everything, but he _knew_!  
No. _He_ was the one who had offered the deal.

And if he was right about what he'd just said…

Then **_He_** was the one really responsible for this.

If really Dipper was dead, then _He_ was the one who killed him.

She wanted him back. She had never asked for _this_!

Mabel was hardly aware that she was pulling him by his collar again. She was shaky so she couldn't strangle him properly. But he was the one…!

She had stopped thinking. She just felt like she would just want to get rid of that bastard who had killed her brother—

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down you little cutie. If you actually _cared_ about your dumb brother, you wouldn't want to at least harm what _remains_ of him, right?"

She could barely believe it.

That isosceles bastard was not grinning. He was actually _sniggering_. This was nothing but a **joke** for him then?!

"Why you little…"  
"Just think for a while." he retorted in a triumphant grin that she so hated seeing on that face. "Even if that dream demon still _were_ Pine Tree, you wouldn't be able to see nor hear him because now he's stuck in the _Mindscape_. If you want him back and safe, at least save the body he'll need to do so."

Her forces slowly left her. She struggled for a while, her tears still rolling on her cheeks. But she soon let him go and sank to the floor, crying silently.

She so hated him.

"You really think that situation's amusing me, Shooting Star? You were right on another point, I _do_ want my powers back. Just as much as you want your dumb sibling back, if not more."

She looked up at him. She didn't care anymore if he would see her dissolving into tears. She didn't care about anything anymore.

"Listen, kid. You want Pine Tree back, I want him back so I can get my powers back, and if he still has feelings for you all — don't count on it, but you can still hope why not — he'll be missing you and your dumb friends so he'll wanna go back eventually, I guess. So see? We all want the same thing!"

She was still shaky, but slowly she managed to get up and face him, whipping her tears with her sweater's sleeve.

"Bill… If there's _one_ _thing_ we can be sure of, it's… It's that we definitely **don't** want the same thing." She took a deep breathe, repressing a sob. "I can't believe you can be _that_ selfish. You monster…"  
"How many times should I tell you? What is it you don't understand in the spelling 'dream **_demon_** '? It can't be _that_ hard to get it."


	4. Chapter I — Part 3

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter I — Third Part_ **  
**_An Equilateral Vision of Things_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

Shooting Star spent the rest of the afternoon in her bedroom. She was just lying in her bed and sobbing quietly at first, but soon enough she was just silent. Maybe she had even fallen asleep out of exhaustion. All this had just been way too much.

Bill on the other hand stayed in the same room where everything had begun. Not that he would have been staying in any other room if the problem had been elsewhere.

"You alright dude?"  
"Yeah. Tired maybe."

It couldn't be a lie actually. That body really felt weirdly heavier than usual. So he just wanted to lie on his bed and look at the ceiling and do nothing. Now he did understand why human beings liked doing that so much. That was just feeling _so good_.

"Seems like some big _brain-ache_. You want some ice cream? Should cool your mind down, haha."

Though the joke was quite messy, he couldn't help but give a small hint of a smile at the very bottom of his lips.  
Question Mark was so oblivious. It was funny to see how dumb he was. It'd be fun enough to spend some nights with him, at least.

Life in Pine Tree's body shouldn't be _that_ bad. He just hoped it wouldn't last for too long.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. Soos went to open it, and Shooting Star came in the bedroom. She glared at Him, and He glared back.  
Soos looked at them both, feeling obviously quite awkward. He hesitated, but soon enough found an excuse to leave the room.  
It was so weird, and sad. They were getting along so well until some time ago. It had been quite a while since it all began, yet he felt he would never get used to it. That just seemed… so _wrong_.  
He had stayed some short instants just behind the door, sighing silently while looking back. But maybe that was just some of that stuff he couldn't fix after all.

"So? What do you want?" Bill uttered, without moving from his position. That was _way_ too comfortable, leaving that bed just for the sake of it was simply out of the question.  
"I can't believe I'm saying that, but we have to work together this time."

Mabel avoided looking directly at him, instead glaring at the floor in a mixture of anger and frustration, yet… was this some little hint of _hope_ he could see there?

The former dream demon grinned.

"So you finally changed your mind. Good."  
"I only want Dipper back. I don't want to help you with your evil plans whatever they are."  
"I don't care. If you want Pine Tree back, then we have to switch places back. There's no other option."  
"I'm sure there is."  
"Don't mind searching, there isn't. You really should trust me on this one."

Mabel stayed perfectly still. There was a pause.

"Anyways, what's the plan?" Bill asked again.  
"For now, let's just keep the act."  
"Agreed. I don't think your friends would be that happy to know what happened."

Especially Stan. He would definitely need to keep Stan Pines away from that case, at least for now.

"Anything else?"  
"We can't find Dipper by ourselves, right? He'll only come if he wants to."  
"Exactly." he muttered in an awkward voice.

It was Shooting Star's turn to narrow her eyes, before grinning ironically.

"Are you _scared_?"  
"I'm not. I just don't like that option."  
"But we don't really have the choice, right?"  
"Don't think so."

He wouldn't want to admit it to anyone, but he actually _was_ scared. He had _no idea_ how he would get his powers back.  
And that was seriously starting to annoy him. Just _come on_! He was stuck in Pine Tree's body, he was powerless and was losing all the knowledge he used to have and that kept him that confident because he _knew_ what could be next and it helped him just plan everything, and to complete the scheme **_PINE TREE_** now had his powers and this knowledge and could be doing just _anything_ with them right now. Could it get _any_ worse than that?!

"Oh, and by the way, just before I forget it. I'm gonna have a sleepover with Candy and Grenda all night, so don't be surprised when they come and get you for some makeover or something."

… Apparently it could.

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

.*.

 _JXLOW DQG VRUURZ, VRPH PHQWDO FDJH_  
_GRHV VOBQHVV HYHU FRPH WR DJH_  
_VHFUHWV DQG OLHV WR ILJKW GLVWUHVV_  
_ZKDW DUH WHDUV RQ D OLDU'V IDFH_

_ZKR IOHHV UHVSRQVLELOLWLHV  
VKDOO EOLQGOB PLVV VRPH YHULWLHV_

*.*


	5. Chapter II — Part 1

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter II — First Part_ **  
**_Wrong-Angled  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

"Admit it. You called your friends _only_ because this happened."  
"How dare you!" Mabel whined in a faked innocent look falsely hurt by such serious accusations. "I only wanted to spend some time with my friends. You should be _ashamed_ of yourself."

Bill sighed while rolling his eyes. He had learned soon enough that in his current form that was all he could do. Heck, even _girls_ were stronger than Dipper's stupidly weak body. When Pine Tree mentioned noodle arms, he wasn't joking. All he had left was his great mind. Something that would've been _way_ more useful if mind really had power over matter. If he was attacked, how could he defend himself? With trigonometry? He couldn't even use mind manipulation if he couldn't get any data on his targets in order to know exactly the words to use to convince them of anything he would want them to believe. There was nothing to make up his speeches! If he could no longer rely on his ability to read minds or see anything beyond those two dumb human eyes, what kind of plans could he make? And the mere knowledge that **_SOMEONE_** would still be one step ahead of him whatever he did was just the last straw.

Mabel stopped the continuously furious flow of his thoughts when she tried to get past him and bumped into him instead. He caught her by her shoulders to avoid her collapsing in the middle of the corridor. She would have gotten in his way anyways.  
Her shaky hand slowly reached her suddenly boiling head as the other one was trying to guide her to the closest wall.

"S-Sorry. Guessed I'd just better get to sleep now…"  
"Yeah, you'd better. You can hardly look where you're going. With those things I wouldn't be surprised after all." he moaned carelessly while pointing at her eye bags. "Do you become blind if you don't get enough sleep or what?" he smirked sarcastically.

Shooting Star didn't answer and simply kept walking clumsily towards her bed before falling on it and burying her face in her pillow. The former dream demon simply shrugged before going on the opposite direction. Dipper's body was claiming it was food time. Or was it called _breakfast_ maybe?

"Hey Dipper. Made some Stan-cakes. Want some?"

He raised his head. Of course he was the one the old man was talking about. Who else?  
He couldn't repress a slight expression of disgust at the corner of his mouth as the horrifying images of Stan's pancakes went through his head.  
_Yeesh. Nightmare._

"I guess I'll… just take some waffles. The syrup's in the closet right?"  
"Help yourself." the elder shrugged.

Some moments later, he was biting in his third one. He didn't care about Stan's wide eyes or the pile of cookies gradually lowering as he was literally gulping them. That was just _so_ good.  
He had to admit, he had never expected "eating" to be _that_ much fun, and to feel so awfully good. Tasty, soft, delicious. He would have probably loved the scent of it if it weren't for the other smelly things that were all around in that old hut.  
Anyway, for once he had other senses than mere sight and hearing, so there was _no way_ he wouldn't benefit from it the best possible way.  
Stan had tried to warn him about stomachaches or some other dumb things, but as he saw that the kid apparently wasn't even listening anymore, he simply took the cookies away and retorted some more speech about sharing and leaving some for the others. Bill wanted to complain, but when he saw the old man's worriedly puzzled stare, he decided just to avoid appearing any more suspicious and just pouted while crossing his arms.

"Humph. Wasn't hungry anymore anyway."

Maybe that was not the cleverest thing to say for his defense. But he didn't care.  
Stan had apparently decided to try not to focus on the strange behavior of his grandnephew, because he kept silent and hid behind the newest issue of _Avoid Eye Contact Monthly_. Yet it didn't prevent him from talking after some more awkward minutes:

"Your sister ain't comin'?"  
"She got back to sleep. Or should I say _got_ to sleep I guess. Probably isn't coming for a while."

Stan shrugged before taking a gulp from a can of PittCola. Bill was certain he heard some muttering about girls and being responsible or something. The demon raised his eyebrows and grinned ironically before starting to eat another remaining waffle. Of course _he_ would know about responsibilities…

"She didn't even warn me in time yesterday. Won't work next time, I tell ya."

He sighed. Of course she _had_ invited them just to annoy him.

"I'll need your help in the gift shop then. She was supposed to do the restocking."

Bill simply nodded. He couldn't care less. He would just make sure Shooting Star would have to work twice as hard the next day. Vengeance? No, he was a _great mind_. He was _way_ above all those silly meaningless pranks. It was more like… interests.  
And he would enjoy her angry, distressed and harmless look. Every bit of it. One could not mess up with a dream demon without paying the consequences. This would just be the beginning. Last night was her time to have fun, the following days would be his. That was only a matter of justice.  
He was already grinning in advance, wondering what kind of tricks would be best. And she would pay for the three of them. She would _so_ regret her behavior during the sleepover.

Yet technically, it was also because she had really needed their presence to cheer her up. After what had happened the day before, she just needed to think about something else, to turn all her hatred and anger and exhaustion into something positive, like she always did. Yet this time she needed her best friends for that. She could no longer do it alone. They were all she had left. So when they both had noticed how tired and melancholic she had appeared when she had opened the door and welcomed them at the entrance, they immediately knew what to do… What their friend had always done for them when they needed it. That is to say, a whole lot of meaningless fun and partying, random screaming and casual gasps before improvising some new pranks — mostly turned against an apparently awfully mad Dipper that was even easier to tease than usual. And that was fun. No one had slept during that night, not for any minute. She just needed it and it had worked. At dawn the three of them (Dipper had miraculously managed to escape just in time some long hours before) were barely awake, but Candy and Grenda were just happy.

Their joyful, crazed and optimistic Mabel was back.

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '


	6. Chapter II — Part 2

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter II — Second Part_ **  
**_Wrong-Angled  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

Restocking. Really?  
How boring! Seriously, how could human beings just _do_ something **that** stupid? He was a great mind, he wasn't worth _this_!  
Oh, Shooting Star would _so_ regret that nap she was having instead of working in his place.

Yet it _could_ be worse. At least he wasn't alone. That Redhead cashier was with him, and from what he remembered she was supposedly in… _good terms_ with Pine Tree. Maybe he could have some fun in the meantime. That girl could know some actual _fun_ when she felt like it.

"Hey Dipper. I can't believe you're taking this job seriously today. You lost a bet with Mabel or what?"

He stopped. He wasn't really sure he had really understood what she _really_ was implicating.

"I, uh… Someone'll have to do the restocking someday anyway, right?"  
"Let Soos do it. He always does. Sometimes even _your uncle_ does it himself."

He started to feel _so_ dumb. _Seriously?!_ He actually was _the only one_ working whatsoever?!  
He turned towards her, but she was reading a magazine.  
He had to find something out, and quick. There was _no way_ he would be humiliated that easily in such a stupid and naive way.

"Y-Yeah but… I just sorta thought of something. _Little prank_ , you know?"

That was a _prank_ he just came up with, but it could still do. And Red would like it. Humans didn't have to see extraordinary things to get impressed after all. The silliest idea could easily do.  
And Red apparently liked it because she dropped the magazine and stood up with some thrilled gleam in her eyes.

"No way! Really? What're you up to, want some help?" Wendy asked excitedly at first, then lowering her voice in order to keep it under as much discretion as possible. At least _that girl_ knew how to keep a secret.

She had even got closer to him and kneeled down to be at the same eye-level as him, before winking in a collusive way. Sure as hell he could count on her; if he _did_ need her help though. But he still appreciated the gesture. How dumb and clever she was at the same time. Such an interesting possible pawn she would turn out to be…

"Well I don't know…" Bill started while rolling innocently his eyes as to fake any true ignorance, a giant smirk on his face. "Like, if I glue one of those eyes at the other end of an 8-ball cane, then fasten it with some fishing line and pass it over that beam before tying it to that skull above the shirts store — the eye is to make sure the line doesn't go off the cane by sliding —, or we could even add why not some non-damaging magic hilarious stuff like leprecorn hair or something. Y'know, so-called 'ghost pranks' and stuff. Could even get to manipulate things ourselves and get everyone to freak out, or get people to believe the place's haunted. Gideon's not the only one to get _fake_ mystic powers, right?"

She kept silent, simply staring at him. She still was at the same eye-level as him, her face some inches away from his as she was by his side. But he knew that kind of alleged calm attitude was in fact hiding some much more complicated thinking. Was she even… getting somewhat suspicious…? Nah, there was no way. She was just surprised by how cool and great his mind was.

"We didn't get our chance on Summerween," he shrugged naturally, putting his hands in the pockets of his vest, "so I just thought we could, ya know, try to catch up?"  
"Two weeks later…?" She narrowed her eyes blankly.  
"… Yeah. Never too late for that stuff. I mean, right?"

She stayed still a little longer, but ended up smiling evilly and lowered Dipper's cap over his eyes. He didn't really like the gesture but he probably had to understand there that she was buying it.

"Well then, I'll let you keep going dude. Have fun." she said happily while standing up and going back to her seat at the cashier's desk.

He forced a smile in her direction and retorted some awkward silly sentences Pine Tree would say, then turned back and sighed angrily. He was trapped now. Yet he _would_ maybe get some amusement from some tourists' screams… In any ways, he had to get back to _work_.  
Red would keep talking to him from time to time, so it was a little less boring than he would have thought; yet of course he would have preferred doing some much smarter things… Like figuring out Pine Tree's new plans, since _he_ now was the dream demon.

Unfortunately, he hadn't told Shooting Star that her brother was dead just to calm her down and enjoy her pain. He really was meaning it. He was scared of what he would try to do, now. Revenge maybe? One night had passed since it happened and yet he hadn't seen him at all — not even in his sleep —, so that seemed _luckily_ highly unlikely. But what if he was secretly taking over _his_ old plans? He didn't care at all about what would happen to the surroundings and his supposedly human _friends_ , but there would be no chance whatsoever _he_ would survive it himself. Not as a dumb human being, that was.  
He would never tell anyone about this, but _that_ was the real reason he was freaking out anytime and had chills down his spine — technically _PINE TREE_ 's spine — each time he was thinking about it. If ever the apocalypse came to be, he would probably not take part in the party crew. Even if his old _friends_ recognized him, what would they think of him? He just couldn't let them know he'd been humiliated to become one of those dumb tridimensional beings. That was simply out of the question.

"Oh, by the way. Didn't you tell me once about some kind of… dream monster or something?"

Bill winced. Not only because he had been suddenly taken back to reality after that much digressing, but also because it was _exactly_ the kind of topic he wanted _not_ to talk about right now. Or to be more accurate, at any moment whatsoever.

"Uh… Y-Yeah, I might. Why do you ask?"  
"I think I saw him last night— not such a big deal though. Like I'd trust something that doesn't even have a face—"  
"What did he tell you?!"

There was a huge and spooky silence. He had turned towards her and was staring at her with a very intense glare. The cashier girl oddly felt this time a little uncomfortable. Was this not the first time ever Dipper was looking at her like this?  
… _Would_ Dipper ever look at her like this?  
She stood up and waved her hands as a vain attempt to calm him down.

"Whoa, don't freak out dude. It really wasn't _that_ bad, he didn't do anything to me and—"  
"Answer me. _What_ – _did_ – _he_ _tell you_?"

Wendy felt like she had just shivered. She bumped silently into the desk and instinctively let a glance reach it. When she turned again to look at him, her eyes met his furious glare. Never would she have imagined ever seeing that kind of look on _Dipper's face_. Let alone if _she_ was the one he was glaring at this way.  
He had insisted on each single word of his question, which had been asked in an eerily slow and deep tone.  
She so regretted having said that.

.

_"Don't trust Dipper."_

.

"Uh, n-nothing, really! K-Keep cool man. I assure you—"  
"He _did_ tell you something, Red. He wouldn't just visit you because he'd have a _crush on you_ , would he?"

.

_"Keep an eye on him. But… don't get too implicated in this though, okay? He's dangerous."_

.

She crossed her arms and looked away in an attempt to stay as calm as she could be in such a situation. She normally had a cool temper, but when it came to that kind of supernatural scenes taking her by surprise, it was quite normal to be at least _a little_ frightened.

"W-Well, who'd trust a _dream demon_ anyway? Why would you care so much about what he'd have told me if you know that's pure nonsense anyway?"

Even though it was what she had believed at first when she had woken up in the morning, the lumberjack's daughter really started to doubt it to be a mere joke.  
There definitely _was_ something wrong with Dipper.  
She wanted to step back but she bumped a second time into the cashier's desk.

.

_"I'm worried about you and the others, Wendy. When he's around, even now, who knows what he could end up thinking. I can see it on the short term, but that guy's just way too unstable and… unpredictable. Even to me."_

.

She slowly started to suspect something. She had no evidence whatsoever, but that silly theory that was growing up in her mind seemed to gather every piece of the puzzle.  
And if she was right, she was _so_ in trouble this instant.

"Dream demons are no laughing matter, Red. Anything they could say is much more relevant than you can think."

 _Yeah. Talk about **you** , creepy face.  
_That was the second time he was calling her _"Red."_ Dipper never called her _"Red."  
_ Now she was sure of it. That was definitely _not_ Dipper. Then who _was_ that guy, the Shapeshifter?! He'd been put back to the cryogenic freezer thing, that was impossible!

"What, you'd told me before that whatever they could do wasn't even real in the first place, so let me just dream about whatever I want okay?! From the point that I know it's just a dream there's nothing to be afraid of, that's what you told me!"  
"Well he's far more twisted than that alright? Trust me, you're not safe whenever you are—"

Bill never finished his sentence. Red hadn't cut him short either. Nothing in the gift shop could have possibly been inclined to get his attention off his train of thoughts.  
Unless maybe the mere word he was about to say but would never speak out.  
He froze.

**_Mabel was sleeping._ **

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '


	7. Chapter II — Part 3

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter II — Third Part_ **  
**_Wrong-Angled  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

She was tired.

It had not even been one full twenty-four hours since it happened, yet she already was missing him as if he had been gone for years.  
It had really started quite a while earlier actually, if she really thought about it. It had begun days ago. Weeks maybe. They got separated for a very long time, even if it was not physically yet. Their bond had slowly been broken by an amount of silly quarrels they never got to solve, and every attempt to fix it had resulted in an awful failure. _Especially_ the last one. She had managed to get things even worse than before, and it would maybe even be permanent. _Dipper was dead_ after all. Rising the dead was never a smart thing to do. There was nothing to do whatsoever and even worse, maybe the lesser she would have tried to fix everything, the better the situation would have turned out to be.

She felt so weak.

She still wanted to hope, she really did. Yet each time she remembered Bill's words and expression, she could never see any trace of lying anywhere. For once, all she had seen was pure, genuine fear and seriousness. And Bill always knew what to say to convince people the most efficient way, especially when he meant what he was saying. Those times were rare enough, but you simply _felt it_ when the demon was telling the very truth. Even if it hurt.

Yet "no more Dipper" had a different meaning than "no more dream demons", if she still followed what Bill had been saying. How would be that new dream demon that once was supposed to be her brother but that would not be anymore? Would it be just like Bill? Could it be even _worse_? Was that even possible in the first place?  
She simply couldn't help but hope. He would still have Dipper's memories at least, right? There was a chance… _Please_ there _had_ to be a chance for Dipping Sauce. There was a chance he would still be himself! She was praying whatever could possibly change anything to _please_ let Dipper still be the same as ever, as a last resort.

Her friends had cheered her up all night, yet now that they were gone, all the fatigue she accumulated since those last events was bleeding onto her mood and kept bringing even more negative ideas and disastrous scenarii.  
She was hiding in the depths of Sweater Town while lying on her bed, crying silently. She was exhausted, scared, worried and depressed at the same time. She simply couldn't stand it anymore. That last failure was just the last straw.

Without her being completely aware of it, the attic gradually started to disappear, as the traits of some gloomy white forest started to raise around her. Trees shone in some pale tones, as if she was lying on a canvas the painter would have forgot for years to ever use.  
Then she felt like there was some cold wind surrounding her. She shuddered even though she actually couldn't really feel it. That was a very peculiar feeling — even somewhat, some sort of _lack_ of feeling.

Somehow she felt like she understood what it meant, and her concerns urged her to get out of Sweater Town and look at the surroundings — and her worst fears appeared to be justified. She really _was_ in the Dreamscape. Probably her own.  
She tried to reassure herself; dreaming was natural after all. Dreams did not necessarily involve dream demons. Maybe that was just a harmless dream? Maybe she had just fallen asleep and nothing would happen whatsoever. Yeah, nothing was going to happen. She was going to be fine and just finish that dream before she would even realize—

"Mabel?"

Mabel shivered.

She turned back.

And then she saw Him.

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

.*.

 _ZKR VHHNV WUXWK LQ D OLDU'V PRXWK_  
_ILQGV ORRVH VWULQJV LQ D SXSSHW'V KRXVH_  
_DQB SODFH EXW KHU VOHHSB ZRUOG_  
_PRXWKV ZRUGV GHDGOLHU WKDQ WKH VZRUG_

 _OLHV DQG DFWV PLPH DQ RUGHUHG SODB_  
_BHW QR RQH IDOOV IRU PDVNV RI FODB_

*.*


	8. Chapter III — Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wanted to see Him? Well, here you get to see him. Finally :D  
> Have fun !

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter III — First Part_ **  
**_The Pine Tree Triangulation  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

When she had imagined Dipper as a dream demon, she had firstly figured that he would have kept the triangular shape. His body hadn't changed at all when Bill was stuck in it after all, so why would the opposite happen differently? But Bill had told her it would most certainly not work this way; because he had not a physical body the same way. This "body" he had was a mere illusion. He was supposed to be made of pure energy after all. Energy had no shape whatsoever.  
What she was facing at this instant was some kind of azure pine tree with a Bill-like eye. That same pine tree symbol on Dipper's cap. The rest was really Bill-like. Same hat. Same weird bowtie. Oh, he didn't have his cane. Or maybe he just didn't feel like he needed it for now. Bill didn't keep it all the time either.  
The dream demon lowered shyly his eye and descended slowly to the ground. He was still floating above it, but they were now at the same eye-level. Yet he seemed to try avoiding looking at her in some way and he still had kept some large distance between them.

Mabel just stayed still. Facing the dream demon. Or facing her brother. She no longer knew. She could barely keep her composure by repeating again and again in her mind that this was just a dream. Because it was.  
But dreams don't prevent you from possibly becoming nightmares. There always was this little inner fear that it could end up being even worse than she would have dared imagine.

"Uh… Hey."

His voice had that eerie electronic-like tone Bill had. Yet it felt like she could recognize Dipper's original voice in the depths of those two mechanical onomatopoeias.  
There was an awkward silence. Mabel was too stunned and terrified to move. She could hardly even think.

"You fell asleep so… I came because I thought you'd want to talk, but… I can come back later or just leave if you—"  
"N-No. It's fine Dipper."

The demon suddenly raised his pupil, looking at her intently. It was hard to figure exactly his emotions without a face to read and decipher. Only his eyes could tell what he really had in mind.  
Yet it seemed obvious that only one word had really mattered and provoked that much reaction from him. A name.  
_His name._

"Mabel…"  
"I missed you."

She wondered how she could not cry. She felt like she wanted to cry but she couldn't. Probably because this was just a dream. Nothing was real. Even her own body she could see here was just a mere projection of her subconscious that was telling her any instant that she had to have a body, even in a place where matter does not exist, because otherwise it wouldn't make sense. But apparently ghosts don't cry.  
The eye moved in a very subtle way. As if he was smiling sadly. Or grinning evilly at how dumb she was to think he still were her brother. Or touched or hurt by what she said. But in any ways she was sure he was smiling. She just couldn't tell which kind of smile it was.

"I missed you too."

The tone was so deep. There was still this electronic sound effect that seemed to hide any emotion from it, yet she… _felt_ he was genuinely honest.

"Dipper…?" She started, but could not end her question. She wasn't even sure she remembered what she wanted to ask. Or even if she had ever known what to ask.

The demon let his feet reach the ground. He looked at her in some kind of hesitation. Then he shyly took one cautious step forward.  
Mabel shivered and nervously stepped back.  
He narrowed his eye in a concerned and blue way.

"T-That's me. Don't worry, okay? Everything's gonna be okay."

She didn't move. She didn't answer either. She still couldn't cry. She so wanted to cry.  
He was still looking at her with that same sad look. The puppy look maybe? No, it was sincere. Was it not?

"Mabel. Can I come closer?"

He seemed like he was more than twenty feet away. Yet she could hear him perfectly even though it was a very soft tone. He was whispering in a genuinely concerned voice. He really was worried. What was he scared of anyway? If she wanted to run away he could easily get after her. Probably.  
She hesitated and mimed to suppress a sob that didn't exist. Yet she slowly nodded.  
She looked as he calmly walked towards her, then stopped when only two or three feet remained between them.  
She noticed they were approximately the same size. But he probably could get much bigger and scarier than that if he wanted to.  
His look appeared to be more serene now.

"There. You see. Nothing happened. It's just me."

She couldn't help but laugh sarcastically in an awkwardly broken-like voice, as if she had been crying for hours.

"Dipper… You're a freaking Christmas tree."

He simply lowered his eye. She wondered if he was trying to verify her statement or if he was just embarrassed. Probably embarrassed. He would've noticed earlier about his new form.

"I… guess I am." he finally uttered uncomfortably with some kind of awkward laugh in his mechanical voice.

He looked back at her. They exchanged a glance. Then he closed his eye as if he was trying to focus. Then it looked like his shape was changing.

She felt like her heart had just shattered. _Dipper_ was facing her now.  
The real Dipper. Her brother.

"Is this better…?" she heard him ask in a soft whisper, as if he was worried he had only made things worse.

What she had heard then was his real voice. No electrical weird demon stuff. If they still weren't in that black-and-white empty forest, she would have believed he was back in the real world for good.  
She smiled sadly. Yes it was much better and no it was even worse. She just didn't know what to say. But she somewhat felt she was happy he had done it anyway.  
Before she even truly realized what she had done, she was already embracing him and hugging him as hard as she could, as if she was afraid he could disappear any instant. She knew that this weird sensation she was having there was because she was not touching a physical body — she herself wasn't even one at the moment. But she didn't care. She just wanted to hug him so tightly she would never let him go and he would never disappear again.  
Dipper had hesitated at first, but soon enough he had slowly begun to pat her gently. He had even said it out loud. That one-sided awkward sibling hug that was way more than simply awkward on the other side.

Eventually she let him go, and she just looked at him. She could no longer get that stupid overjoyed grin off her face. She was just so relieved.  
She was right. She was right, she was right, she was right. _She was right!  
_ How did she feel so stupid. How could she have trusted Bill? Of course _she_ knew her brother better than one dumb half-amnesic triangle!  
She suddenly laughed. Again and again. That was just so amazing.

"Hey!" she suddenly noticed jokingly. "You kept the bowtie?"

Dipper awkwardly straightened it with both hands while looking away. Were his cheeks slightly… blushing?

"… Yeah. I kinda like it. Bowties are cool."

She giggled. They both discussed about the most stupid things they could come up with. Meaningless conversations were yet accompanied with genuine laughs.

"But what's the Santa Claus thingy all about anyway?" she couldn't help but ask eventually.  
"I'm not sure. Guess there's some link with Bill calling me 'Pine Tree.' You know."  
"Yeah… Does it mean I would've been a shooting star if it had been me then?"  
"Heh. That's still better than being a Nacho, right?"

And Mabel laughed.

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '


	9. Chapter III — Part 2

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter III — Second Part_ **  
**_The Pine Tree Triangulation  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

Aoshima growled enthusiastically, carrying on his back two enchanted children laughing in wonderment while flying over meadows of pink gummy lawn and polychrome unicorns, cities made of candy rocks where the stuffed animals waved at them in return, lakes with a choral of singing mermen, and other landscapes of multiple colorful and crazily joyful inhabitants. Dipper had reminded her that since she was dreaming, they could also have some fun as well: and while in the Dreamscape, he was technically not the only omnipotent one.  
Actually, Mabel had been the most active in creating that world they were contemplating from above; the dream demon just smiled and jokingly hid some little tricks here and there, surprising her and making her laugh and call him stupid.  
Mabel had proudly suggested to name it _Mabeland_. She was basically in her own brain and she was practically the only creator of this place after all. But Dipper had cringed at the sound of this name for some mysterious reason.

"I'm not sure that's really appropriate." he had shyly mumbled while looking away.  
"What, you also want your name in the credits?" her sister obliviously teased.  
"Hey, if I wasn't here in the first place…" He jokingly nudged her.  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Watch out~!"

And Aoshima made a splendidly gracious back flip in order to dodge a random cotton candy cloud with fat little angels who saluted them with giggles, making Dipper jerk a short high-pitched scream in surprise.

"You didn't see that one coming, ha. Not _that_ all-knowing, are you?"  
"S-Shut up." he chuckled embarrassedly; though he seemed to be trying to laugh at it like any other prank, her sister felt that something was off.  
"Ooh. Touchy subject~?" Mabel muttered sneakily, creepily approaching her smile full of braces.  
"L-Let's just change the topic. How's William?"

He had suddenly burst out that question from nowhere in less than half a second, in a precipitously quite serious tone. Mabel was genuinely surprised, though amused. That was so much not Dipper and yet so much Dipper at the same time. Dipper often started acting voluntarily out of character when he was annoyed.

"Woah, whoa, whoa. So _now_ you start caring about him?" She poked him jokingly.  
"He's kinda _close_ to you, right? Was just willing to hear a little about your favorite boy, that's all."

She felt hurt by that expression. Though he probably meant not to let any hint at it in his intonation, she felt that he… still was somehow upset over it.  
Of course she would have thought about it. He still was her brother, she had been convinced of that hours ago already; how could she have believed that becoming a dream demon would change anything? If he hadn't changed at all, how could she have dared thinking that he would miraculously—

"I'm sorry."

She widened her eyes and turned her gaze towards him.  
_Did he just…?_

"Yes, I did." He chuckled nervously. "I guess I really _was_ paranoid this time. Sorry I got in your way the other day."  
"That's… Dipper, that's alright. Let's just forget about that."

She felt like Mabeland was fading away. Was it because her mood was fading itself? But she tried to focus and regain her smile and soon glitter started snowing around them and flakes danced between crystal canyons and rainbow falls. Then penguins in costumes and bowties came and glided on the rocks. That would be a cold place, because the Word of Mabel had spoken. Speaking of cold…  
Dipper took a piece of one random cotton candy cloud and put it on a cone before handing it to her with a collusive smile. She noticed then that it didn't look like cotton candy anymore.

"You wanted some ice cream?" he chuckled.  
"Did you just read my mind?" she laughed jokingly. "What are you, a psychic—?"

She noticed her joke didn't make him laugh. Maybe mentioning Gideon was not a good idea? Come on, he knew how she felt about that child-psycho anyway, he wouldn't—  
But then she remembered.  
_… Oh.  
_ Yes, _that_ also made sense.

"We're _inside_ your mind. What were you expecting?" he retorted nervously while looking away. "Let's say I… somewhat _hear_ all your thoughts. If that even makes sense in the first place… I don't actually hear them but— uh, I just don't know. T-That's kinda complicated."  
"I… see." she mumbled. "B-But that's really cool isn't it? I mean, right?"  
"If you can't turn it off, that's easily getting on your nerves." he laughed uneasily before pausing. "But that's the only way you can actually _see_ me now I guess. By 'entering your mind' and… _making you_ see me. I never realized how simple the mind was. You just make the right stimuli here and there and—"

He stopped and stared for a moment at her confused eyes.

"… Sorry. I lost you, didn't I." he muttered embarrassedly. He looked away before mumbling something that sounded like "That's why I don't really want to talk about that stuff. That's just creepy and overcomplicated. Too many dimensions."

She didn't know how to answer. She simply noticed that he was still holding the ice cream so she awkwardly took it and thanked him.

"B-But even without that… The look on your face was telling enough anyway. Look, I know you enough to recognize when you're hungry." he tried.  
"I'm not hungry _for_ _real_ though. Am I?"  
"Well, you haven't eaten for hours and you missed breakfast. Though I… kinda guess I can't do anything for that… But when you think about some food you like, you can still remember the flavor, right?"

She smiled shyly before staring at that ice cream that still wouldn't melt. They were in a cold place after all. She wasn't cold but that was because she didn't want to. But she wanted the air to be cold so the ice cream would not melt. That was just a question of logic. In a way.  
She had looked back at her brother when he had muttered "Come on, give it a try." Then she licked it and it actually felt good.  
Gummy koala. Of course he would know how to make that kind of absurdity actually possible. Now she had a new favorite ice cream flavor. One she would never get the chance to test for real but she didn't care.

It felt amazing. The food was fake, but the feeling was very real. The flavor, the texture, the cold— she could lick the prickly freezing yet soft cream and munch the warm and tasty cone and smell its cold sweet odor and feel the ice burn her throat…

"I'm sorry Mabel. I was wrong about him. He's… a nice guy."

She turned back towards him. Back to talking about William then?  
Though she was relieved he had made up his mind. She couldn't take it anymore any other way… And now she knew the consequences. How weak she was.

"Never say that again." Dipper scolded gently.

She repressed a laugh.  
The demon passed one arm around her shoulders and she leaned towards him. She still had her ice cream in her hands so she couldn't hug him.

"I never actually _said_ it in the first place, you know?"  
"Well, stop _thinking_ it, then. You're the strongest person I know, Mabel. I mean, Bill doesn't count, right? He's not even human. I mean, he wasn't supposed to be or— w-well, you get the idea. He's _supposedly_ strong because he doesn't care. He just has nobody he cares about but himself."

She would not argue with that. That was what she had always seen about that guy. Nothing but lies and tricks only to amuse _him_ or get everyone to do what _he_ wanted. Selfishness impersonated itself in one dumb three-sided geometrical form.  
But Dipper cared about at least some people and she was glad to see that this had not changed at all.

"… And William cares about you." Mabel heard him mutter softly in her ear, the same way one shamefacedly admits how deadly wrong he has been. "I should have seen it before. I guess I was just blinded by all those crazy theories and conspiracies and— I mean, not like your previous summer romances were successful and harmless…"  
"And you were just jealous?" she giggled wistfully.  
"… _And_ I was kinda jealous." he admitted while rolling his eyes. "I mean, you've got so many friends during that summer. Guess I just didn't wanna be left behind…"

Mabel completed his sentence, without really thinking:

"And then you got all stupid."  
"We _both_ got 'all stupid', Dum-Dum." He nudged her gently in the arm.  
"Pff, _yeah_ , alright." she said teasingly while innocently faking to look away.

She paused. Sighed. And mumbled gloomily:

"I want you back, Dipper."  
"I know."

But he was not even looking at her.  
Her look saddened in realization. Or was it in resignation? She felt like she always kind of knew after all.

"You're not coming back are you?" she muttered blankly.  
"I can't."  
"Of course you can. There _has_ to be a way back. Right?"

But he had closed his eyes and sighed.

"B-But," she tried hopefully, "with all your crazy powers and everything there must be something to do! I mean, isn't there? I'm sure there is, there might even be something about it in the journal and—"  
"Mabel, don't you think that if there _were_ a way, Bill would have already managed to do it himself?"  
"Bill doesn't know _everything_ , Dipper— I mean, _right_?"  
"Mabel—"  
"I'm sure there is something he wasn't aware of and then we'll get you back and everything will be back to normal and—"  
" _Mabel_."

Silence.  
She raised slowly her eyes towards his, afraid of what he was about to say. Though she was certain she already kind of knew.

She finally noticed that Aoshima was gone, and so was everything else. They were back in that creepy empty black-and-white silent forest. But she didn't care anymore.  
Dipper sighed deeply and looked at her with two resigned pupils.

"Don't you think I've already thought it through all day?"

She raised an arm to object, but she could not speak. What could she retort to _that_?

"I'm sorry. But… Trust me. That's the safest option." He paused for a short second, then smiled sadly at her. "Have a good day, Mabel."

It took her less than a second to realize what he exactly meant by ' _Have a good day'_ , but when she did it was already too late.

"No, wait, Dipper—!"

It felt like some invisible flood had suddenly surrounded her and was irremediably taking her away from him. He had turned his look towards her one last time, waving weakly at her before slowly fading away.  
It was cold and strong. It was everywhere invading her mouth as she was trying to call out for him again. She could not breathe. She wanted to scream but her lungs were suffocating.

She jumped as she sat up and coughed in a rushed panic.

The first thing she noticed was the fact that she was back in her bedroom.  
The second one was the fact that she was wet. Cold, and _soaking wet_.  
The third one was Bill glaring at her, holding a half-empty basin.

"What the heck?!" she blurted out in an angry and panicked voice. "What was _that_ for?!"  
"Waking you up."  
"I didn't need your help. Especially not _that_ way, you creep."  
"It's past midday."  
"We're on vacation. I can sleep for as long as I want to."  
"Not if _he_ 's here. He's dangerous."

Silence. She narrowed her eyes.

" _He's_ Dipper. _You're_ paranoid."

Bill rolled his eyes skeptically.

"Dipper told me you'd try to turn me against him anyway." she muttered while crossing her arms, annoyed.  
"He's trying to turn you against _me_."  
"The point is I _already am_ against you."  
"That's why he wants to make sure you don't change your mind. You're the only one besides us two to be aware of the situation, so _of course_ he wants to be sure you won't get in his way."  
"He came because he actually _cares_ about me, you see. Unlike you. Because you only care about _yourself_."

The former demon couldn't help but burst out laughing in a mysterious and deeply macabre way.

"That's what _you_ think! But believe me. He's just playing with your feelings. And the day you won't be a threat anymore to him, you'll see how much it **_hurts_**."

Mabel wanted to retort, but she never got time to.  
Noisy and frightened footsteps resonated in the attic before running to her bedroom. Then some random enraged redhead banged the door open and rushed towards Bill before lifting him up one or two feet above the ground by pulling his collar, making him drop the basin in the process.

"Okay, now you tell me what the heck is going on. Who are you and what have you done to the real Dipper?!"  
"Woah Wendy, calm down!" Mabel instinctively shouted while jumping off her bed and waving at her in panic.

The elder relaxed a bit while turning her look towards her and unclenched a little her fist, but she kept it up and close to the boy's face, ready to hit whenever necessary. She was about to tell her little friend about the origin of such violent (yet perfectly justified) suspicions, but she was interrupted even before she could open her mouth by some annoying snigger coming from her very hostage; though he was facing Mabel, now.

"Ha. So _now_ you're taking my defense Shooting Star?" the former demon grinned. "How ironic. Should I remind you what you'd almost done yesterday?"

 _'Shooting Star'_ narrowed her eyes and lowered her head a bit in contempt.

"Actually I take that back. Wendy, go nuts."

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the reference to Mabeland was intended _and_ sarcastically hilarious. To me at least. To you it might turn on some alarms that something is going on. Or not. I'm not gonna tell you whether it was just a troll or not. I'm such a jerk, yeah. And I love it 8D
> 
> It's not the first time we hear about that so-called _boyfriend_ Mabel would have, and now we finally got to get his name... Yet why would I maintain that I'm _not_ pairing anybody, if no sooner than just the next chapter I introduce what appears to be one? Stay tuned!  
>  And before you ask, yes, picking the name 'William' was intentional (you know what "irony" is, right?), and yes he's an OC. I'd be glad to answer any of your other questions, but I'm afraid that would turn out to be what we commonly call "spoilers." So that's all you're gonna get for now.
> 
> You might as well have noticed, but I did make up my own explanations over dream demon magic and some other stuff. We already got some hints here and there and we will get further details in the next chapters (especially in the next one), but I never intended to expand explanations all over the fiction, so that's gonna be it; I will only say that I was inspired mostly by Bill's AMA, and that _"Edwin Abbott Abbott has a decent idea."_ Also, quantum physics are cool. Seriously.


	10. Chapter III — Part 3

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter III — Third Part_ **  
**_The Pine Tree Triangulation  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

"Oi, _hello there_? Pine Tree, wherever you are, we've gotta talk."

Bill turned his head in all possible directions, scanning every single detail in Dipper's bedroom. There were so many random items of all shapes, just any of them could go. There had to be _at least_ one that would fit in, and _he_ could come out of it any second now.  
It had been a little more than ten seconds he had started calling out for _him_ , but he knew it wouldn't last for much longer. _He_ would end up showing himself somehow. Probably.

"Come on. I know you can hear me. You have to be _somewhere_."

Suddenly the background started to turn greyish, as all the colors in the room seemed to vanish slowly. He looked around again even faster than before, yet couldn't see any sign of any demon around. Until he looked up and noticed _he_ was floating above his head. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Seriously, you'll have to work on your entrances. I mean, _really_? What are you playing at, hide-and-seek?"  
"Not like I really had the choice. You see lots of trees in that room?"

The former demon watched as Pine Tree, with crossed arms and a skeptical look, floated down so that they could face each other properly. Then he realized and removed his cap before burying his head in his hand. _Of course_ he would have been a **pine _tree_**. How could he have not thought about it?

"… Remind me to burn that cap down as soon as I wake up."

Pine Tree simply shrugged while rolling his eye.

"I see you survived the logging camp champion." he retorted cynically.  
"Oh yeah, you _did_ enjoy watching that didn't you." Bill mumbled exasperatedly while painfully rubbing his left slightly swollen crimson cheek. "Your toots really is strong. To think I used to see her as a pushover…"  
"And your acting sucks. She let you go when she understood that Mabel is covering up for you, but she isn't convinced at all. I'll have to tell her myself not to interfere. Remember that humans are a lot smarter than you think if you want to avoid trouble."

Bill faked a forced sarcastic laugh.

"So now you're helping me? How _nice_ of you, Pine Tree."  
"You're lucky I'm leaving you alone for now, _'Cipher'_. But if you ever harm _any_ of them, I can assure you that you **will** regret it."  
"I'm terrified." Bill grinned while using the best of Dipper's shaky voice to make it sound like a terrorized whimpering harmless girl.

Dipper's eye simply narrowed in extreme annoyance. He crossed his arms.

"So? What did you want to tell me?" he insisted impatiently. "Don't count on it if it's for a _deal_ or whatever, there's no way I'm doing that."  
" _Nah_ , you know I wouldn't be _that_ stupid. Given that _you_ would be the trickster anyway."  
" _I_ don't trick people."  
"You haven't _yet_." Bill corrected.

The demon was obviously trying desperately to keep his composure, and he let out one tensed sigh before simply asking to change the subject and repeating his question.

"Don't play dumb, you exactly know what I was about to say anyway." Bill crossed his arms nervously while looking away.  
"… You've got a point." Dipper muttered awkwardly. "And no, I don't have any _'plans'_ , to answer your question. Or let's say that my plan is to make sure _yours_ never come to work."  
"Yeah." He burst out laughing lugubriously. "And that's _totally_ why you're having fun with _my_ powers and keeping them to _yourself_."  
"We can't trust you, Cipher." the demon retorted coldly.  
"Do you think we should trust you more?" Bill snapped with an ironic grin.

There was a short pause; the azure tree seemed to choose the best words he would have to use, even though his tone appeared to show that he had known what to say for much longer:

"Unlike you, I actually _care_ about the others."  
"Yeah, _right_. Stupid tridimensional dummies. Are you pretending to defend them because you used to be one of them? Pathetic." He paused for a short time, but he didn't let Pine Tree any time to retort anything: "Come on, even if we switched back _right now_ you'd still remember how to stop me. Whatever I do my plans are doomed for decades, if not centuries."  
"But you'll find sooner or later somebody else to trick and start over."  
"Eh, that'd certainly be long after your own death, so why would you even _care_ in the first place?" he retorted exasperatedly while throwing his arms in midair.

Dipper's eye narrowed angrily in extreme annoyance.

"Because that's not about saving _me_ , Bill. That's about saving _the_ _world_."  
"Even after you saw the _real face_ of your stupid **_'world'_** , you still wanna play the heroes? How _cute_ little dummy you make."  
"All I see here is a world just like any other. You had no right to do what you intended."  
"You make a very poor liar, Pine Tree. Either that or you're awfully persistent in your denial." Bill smirked. "You know what? I'm almost starting to _pity_ you."

The demon's fist clenched suddenly. It trembled a little for a few seconds, but then it slowly relaxed.

"You really do want to get on my nerves, don't you." he simply uttered in a monotone voice.  
"I'm just saying the truth, you know. Not my fault if it hurts."  
"Just stop this once and for all, Bill. That won't change anything and you know what, I don't even want to be mad at you in the first place. So let's just try to avoid getting in trouble. Things are **fine** the way they are."  
"Of course they are, since _you're_ the one with infinite power." he retorted ironically. "And don't try to tell me _you're_ the perfect wise and absolute fatherly guy who forgives anyone, I wouldn't believe you." He paused for a couple of seconds, but then added coldly: "Don't let those powers get over your head and think that you can be perfect. You're not a god Pine Tree, you're a _demon_."  
"Hey, who's most at fault? I had completely forgotten about that carpet. _You_ hadn't."

Dipper paused for a moment, slightly narrowing his eye. But it was not in an angry way anymore; this time, he looked genuinely… grateful.

"Though I guess I should… _thank you_ , somehow." he uttered calmly.

Bill widened a confused stare. The demon kept talking without interruption:

"You did fulfill your side of the bargain… in a way. You did respect your deal — and Mabel's true wishes. Even though that was probably not intended."  
"Humph. You know I _always_ do." Bill sarcastically ironized.  
"You usually trick people much more than that. She's been quite lucky in the end."  
"Don't thank me about that. I obviously messed up, that's completely different. How do you want me to think that _this_ was part of my plan?"

Dipper's eye narrowed in a sincerely puzzled way, while he crossed his black thin arms and underlined his eye with a pensive finger.

"Wait. You _really_ don't remember?"  
"Not like I didn't try to. I don't have any clue about it."  
"And neither do I… That's really odd."

The former dream demon had shrugged; he didn't care at all about it — or rather he didn't really want people to think that he cared, including himself maybe. The pine tree on the other hand was already trying to figure out some theories of his own.  
_Well, I guess **some** things will never change…_ Bill thought while rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"It's weird you don't remember. All you should have forgotten about would be stuff about higher dimensions like images and sounds, and even about that, your memories and former thoughts should have been kept intact. Somewhat blurred maybe, but intact…"  
"Hey, I still know how the human brain works, so _thanks_ but I don't need a whole lesson about it."  
"Sorry… It's just that I don't get it. That literally makes no sense at all. Were some of your specific thoughts too deeply related to your powers or omniscience maybe?"  
"Well, when I got up for the first time, I couldn't even figure out what had happened at all. Most of my memory went back later when Shooting Star told me about it, but it's still very fuzzy for some parts, like something's missing. And no matter how hard I try to remember, that just won't come back. I'm not even sure _you'd_ find anything about it if you checked it yourself."

The blue demon's eye twitched nervously.

"I'm not really into that kind of stuff actually."  
"If you're here, it means you're inside my head right now. You can check my thoughts whenever you want."  
"You _asked_ for it, remember? And seriously, I really try not to do that too much. You really were a creep back then. No wonder you were _'all-knowing'_."  
"Oh, and _that's_ why you already knew about my plan and my past: you _definitely_ didn't read about them in my mind, you wouldn't have dared…" He quickly regained a serious expression though and narrowed his eyes in a skeptically angry way. "No, really, are you freaking serious? What kind of sick joke is that?"  
" _Okay_ , okay, sorry if I was _a little_ curious about that… _Not like_ I'd been obsessing over finding that out all summer and then the answers popped out from nowhere _just like that_."

Bill sighed while burying his head into his hand. That kid just… The way his supposed incompetence was faked — or even if it were genuine, which would be even worse — was annoying to an extent that was beyond human words.  
He so wished he still was a dream demon only to be able to remember some _really_ good demon swears, and not only primitive simple tridimensional grunts.

"You know what, I don't even care. Just stop denying everything at once, 'cause that's ridiculous and seriously starting to get on my nerves."  
"Come on, all this is fairly new to me alright? Just let me some time to readjust to the new surroundings. It does also take you some time to familiarize with human life."  
" _Or_ we could just switch back. That'd be even faster for both of us to accustom to something we actually **already know**."  
"You _know_ that's not gonna happen, right? In any way that would involve me _possessing_ someone to make the switch work. And **_that_** 's never gonna happen again. _Ever_."

It was amazing to actually see an azure pine tree twitch his eye that much and shake in what appeared to be genuine fright, or some other indecipherable violent emotion. Upon seeing him, it seemed like Bill had just made some kind of connection with his previous deductions because he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Oh, yeah, of course… Ha, as if 'waking up' in my body wasn't enough!"  
"That was horrible. How could you even… _do_ that in the first place?"  
"Come on, I needed _something_ to hold that journal, right? And that was part of the deal. I mean, you know that, don't you? She was just doing me a favor."

Dipper simply shuddered. Either he didn't know what to say, or he preferred not saying it. The wisest thing to do was probably just to get a new topic:

"While we're at it, there's actually a favor I'd like to ask you— **_AND_** that's not a deal." he corrected as soon as he saw Bill's smirk about to open and start saying silly things again. "Could you just try to keep Mabel away from the Journal as much as possible? You can even keep it for yourself if you want, I don't care. I mean, I'm sure you'd think it'd come out somewhat handy for you now, right?"

Though he was particularly surprised by such request and was obviously eager to get a hand on that book — for once it _indeed_ could become convenient —, the former demon immediately rolled his eyes and grunted in annoyance.

"Ha, as if! Shooting Star has hidden it and _definitely_ won't tell me where it is. There's no way she's gonna let me even _see_ it."  
"Last time I checked, it was under the mattress."  
"She locks her bedroom whenever she's away from it, genius."  
"There's a floor mat before her door."

Bill blinked.

"You're not freaking serious."  
"Heh, she's Mabel. What were you expecting?"

He did not answer, simply rolling his eyes. Yet he somewhat smiled in the bottom corner of his lips.

"Well. I guess that makes things a little easier."  
"You're welcome." the demon sincerely responded in a calm tone while shrugging.

If he still had a mouth, he would probably have given an honest smile; and for the first time, Bill was sure of his sincerity about it.

"Could I just ask you something then?" he tried. "There's… something I'd like you to tell me."  
"Sure, shoot." Dipper shrugged again. "What do you want to know?"

He hesitated and narrowed his eyes while looking away. He started to scratch nervously his arm.

"How are… the others?"

The only giant eye widened, then blinked.

"I… haven't looked for them personally yet, so I guess I don't know… And I'm not really sure I'd be ready to meet them— I mean, they're… _pretty intense_. I have no idea what they'd be thinking."  
"Ha, you can't figure _that_ out can you?" he jokingly snapped, though his tone seemed oddly… melancholic.  
"I can only see up to eleven dimensions at once, you genius. Remember your lessons about dodecadimensional geometry?"  
"Actually no, I don't. Human freaking brain, remember?"  
"Heh, right."

Both started a forced unconvincing laugh, but soon enough one same awkward silence started to invade the entire room.  
Dipper stared intently at him, seeming even more puzzled than before.

"… You _do_ miss them." He eventually understood, showing what appeared to be genuine surprise.  
"I guess you realize you care about some dumb pointless things only when they're missing… Never tell them that though." he added quickly in an embarrassed mutter. "I'm even starting to wonder if that's not just one of your stupid human hormones messing up or something."

One long silence rose again. Bill lowered his eyes and rubbed his arms as if he were suddenly hit by a chill.

"You _really_ are not gonna let us revert _anything_ back to normal, are you." he eventually mumbled under his breath.

Once again, a slight little spark of puzzled surprise glowed for a second in the corner of Dipper's eye. That tone he had used in this sentence… it was not even about fear or anger anymore. All he could see, both in those eyes, in that sound, even in his bare thoughts— there was then nothing more than an incongruously deep despair.  
Yet the dream demon forced a harsh glare and his attitude became even more serious.

"I don't care what you were doing this for." he simply told in a slow and emotionless voice. "I don't care how or why you ended up with that dumb and dangerous obsession of yours. You purposely intended to destroy entire lives, Bill. Nothing can justify that."

A lugubrious laugh gradually intensified in the whole room, yet instantly died paradoxically.

"Ha. Willing to look like the perfect judge, huh? Wanna make up your own justice? Do _you_ think you're **_all-knowing_** _enough_ to rule **everything** _just like **that**_? You're blaming me, but listen to _yourself_. You're just denying the _real_ reasons you don't want to come back."

He slowly rose a determined and furious glare. His whole face was distorted by one ever growing rage, and even the azure demon seemed taken aback by that look for a split second.

"Don't you _dare_ telling me you're not enjoying _every single bit of it_. Infinite power. Infinite knowledge. You were looking for the answer to all the bloody secrets of the fucking universe. Well now you have it! Don't even **dare** trying to make me believe that you're not **_loving_ it**. **_Happy now PINE TREE?!_** "

Dipper's eye had narrowed and was furtively twitching under the impulse of a growing annoyance, yet he still was keeping some apparent calm. That was just some bare rage from one bare stupid former triangle who obviously was just trying to purposely get on his nerves. It was pointless to respond to those senseless accusations… He knew he was wrong after all and he didn't need to make him understand that— Getting into his game was unnecessary _and_ dangerous. He just needed to keep his composure and wait for him to calm down on his own—

"Now that you've seen all this, there's no way you want to let it go. You _know_ you'll **never** come back. You know how much Shooting Star wants you back but you're definitely not gonna listen to her because **_LISTEN_ TO _ME_** , you only care about **_YOURSELF_** , and now there's nothing more but you and **_YOUR_** FUCKING **_POWERS_**. Don't you **_DARE_** telling me _you're_ **NOT** FUCKING **_SELFISH_** —!"

That was enough.

"İ̿̏̍ ̇̒̀̇̏wͫ̿ͣ̋ͧ͒̅Il͆͋̿̾ͥlͧ ̽ͮ̇̐ͫ̊ **n̊ͮ̈̄ě̒̿̍̑ͧVẽ̇͑͗̅̓r̈́̌̃ͬ̓̌** ͊̉̆ _b_ ě̒̿̍̑ͧ ** _cö́ͭͣ̇́ͭ_** _m̌̑̋͋E ͋ͥ̽_ lͦi͗͐K͑e̿ͣ̀̍͂ͭ̅ ͥ̋̐̑y͊ͩ́͊ͣ **Ö́ͭͣ̇́ͭu̍ͮ** ,̑͊̽ ͩ̓ ** _Ȳ̏ͯͣ͛ȏ͌̌ͨ̅̃u̍ͮ_** _**H͊̈͗ͤ̅̍È̓̃ͨ̐a͆ͣ̃̌̇̃R̉̒̀ ̀Mͤ̆E͊?!**_ "

The former dream demon instinctively stepped back and raised his gaze in some kind of sudden genuine awe. His right eye involuntarily twitched.  
The pine tree had become much taller and darker in less than a second, glaring at him with one giant black eye that easily reached the ceiling, while the whole azure color had left to a much blacker and redder one that looked like some obscure indigo, while both his shining white fists seemed ready to squash that disrespectful tridimensional ignorant to the ground any instant—

Yet the purple monster froze straightaway in sudden realization. He seemed to shake, both in anger and what appeared to be a mixture of fright and horror. Then it quickly deflated and came back to the form of the little azure and ironically innocent looking tree. His eye was widening in consideration, but his pupil was much tinier and trembling like a fly trapped in creamy yogurt and struggling for its life, or its sanity, or both.

How could he even have, just, this instant…?

He was not even sure he knew what had really happened— either that or, on the contrary, he knew _all too well_ , and this horrified him. That was at least what anyone could have read on his face… more accurately on his _single eye_.  
He _couldn't_ allow himself to get mad _like this_. He didn't want to and he simply **couldn't**. He could prove he was much better than that— he wanted to prove he was above those silly and dangerous thoughts— he was _different_ , he would be just wise and stay cool and never would he ever become insane like—

"But you already are." Bill cackled in what seemed to be a cynically amused and triumphant mutter. "I tell you, kid. We've got much more in common than you will ever want to admit." He paused for a short time, but he was already back to talking seconds later: "Either your acting is perfect, or you've become even easier to manipulate. Which do you think makes the most sense?"  
"For the last time, I'm _not_ tricking _anybody_ …!"

But his tone still was pretty unsure.

"Look, if you want _so badly_ to show us how trustworthy you are, then why don't you just _prove_ it?" But he paused and mimicked a fake puzzled face. "Wait— Oh yeah, that's right: I forgot about that little detail. **_YOU CAN'T!_** " he shouted in an evil snigger while raising his hands in a sign of victory.

Dipper narrowed his eye. His tone was apparently calm, but it was obvious that he still was deeply shaken by many violent emotions, from the range of pure anger to absolute fright.

"No one can prove they're trustworthy. That's the point in _trusting_ , actually. You don't need evidence; or you make up your own and you decide by yourself to trust someone. Can _you_ prove that we should trust you more?"  
"Well, for starters— I have a freaking human brain. My intelligence has been limited to _physical_ laws. I can no longer trick or act as much as _you_ can."  
"Then that problem is endless. Switching back just swaps the situation and doesn't solve anything."  
"Yeah. That's what makes it most… _interesting_."  
"But now we know what _you_ do as a dream demon. I haven't done anything to conspire against the entire universe and the very fabric of _reality_."  
"… _so far._ " he completed sarcastically with a large grin.

The pine tree flashed back to purple for a split second, but his eye twitched and he was already back to his original azure color. His fists were still clenched and shaking though.  
Bill noticed and smirked triumphantly.

"Face it, Pine Tree. You're changing. You're changing, whether you like it or not."

The demon didn't answer. His blazing glare was much more telling than words.

"There's still a way back though, before it's too late."  
"Bill, you're _much_ smarter than this. For the **_last_** time, I'm _not_ switching back… Whatever the cost."

Bill's eyes widened.

"I knew it. You really _are_ selfish."  
"I'd rather lose my sanity if it could save the world. _You_ call that selfish?"  
"I call that selfish when you're about to cause your own Weirdmageddon in my place."  
"That's **not** gonna happen."

The former dream demon crossed his arms cynically.

"We'll see, boy." he chuckled in a low and deep tone. "You should be the one to know it, now. _Things change_."

No matter how paradoxical it would appear, it sounded like Pine Tree had mumbled some kind of muffled roar of pure rage deeply resonating into one inexistent throat.

"I've had enough. I'm starting to believe I should have never come in the first place."  
"Yeah, nice to see you too."

And Bill was innocently waving goodbye at him with one large fake innocent smile when the azure tree disappeared and the room regained its original colors.  
He literally jumped while he noticed his eyes were closed and his hands down; he definitely was not used to being _on the other side_.

"Hi there Dipper!"

And he jumped again while noticing that Soos had just come in from behind him and had apparently decided to make one friendly harmless jump-scare that practically gave him a heart attack.

"What were you doing there in the middle of the room doing nothing?"  
"Uuh… Sleepwalking."

That couldn't really be a lie, right?

"Hey, what happened to you? That looks sorta swollen, you alright?"

He instinctively rubbed his left cheek before remembering that _incident_ with Red.

"Uh. Yeah. That was an accident. With the leaf blower."

Bill mimicked some innocent and awkward coughing.

"Where is Sh—Mabel?"  
"Last time I saw her, she was in the gift shop with Wendy. Mr. Pines got her to finish the restocking."  
"Oh, okay. I'm gonna get, uh, some drinks now. Bye."

He didn't even dare look at the man-child's puzzled eyes, even though he was perfectly aware of them.  
If even _Question Mark_ was starting to get suspicious, then maybe he _really_ sucked at acting.

Or whatever. There was something much more important right now than worrying about being suspicious to anyone— Shooting Star was definitely away from her bedroom and he had literally zero chance to meet her anywhere else than in the gift shop. That was just perfect.

He ran until he finally reached the door of her bedroom in the attic and, still panting, seized up a corner of the cat-faced floor mat.  
And there really _was_ a silver key under it. Really, Shooting Star? Such a classic, what a disappointment. He would've hoped for something _a little_ more original coming from someone that usually was _that_ random.  
Yet he inserted the key and silently opened the door, before racing to the bed and immediately checking under the mattress. Just like Pine Tree had predicted, he would just find—

 _Hi Bi… 'Dipper',_  
I thought that was some handy place to hide 'your' journal but I think that's more like some too obvious-y hideout so I decided to hide it somewhere else. You almost got me though. Nice try, but maybe you'll get luckier next time!  
— Mabel

That was a gag. Seriously.  
If Pine Tree had _any_ relation with this sick joke…

But he simply face-palmed and sighed deeply, before closing back the room and hiding the key in the same spot as before—  
_Or_ maybe not. He slipped the key into one pocket of Pine Tree's vest and left. She had deserved it.

He still felt like something was missing though — or more exactly, something he had forgotten about. It took him a couple of seconds to figure it out, but finally he remembered: the cap. Of course.  
He ran to the kitchen, and luckily no one was there. He looked into the drawers for a few minutes, then eventually took out a lighter and grinned maniacally before lighting it up and approaching its little flame to the pine tree symbol.

_Die. DIE you little silly window to Pine Tree's eyesight._

The whole cap was burnt to ashes in less than a minute, and he had sickly enjoyed watching it slowly disintegrate and turn from blue and white to greyish black while sniggering sadistically.  
He finally threw its reminders through the window into a pile of dead leaves, then put back the lighter and left the room, one giant smirk on his face.

His next destination was the gift shop; he had nothing left to do, and that was the only place he would probably not get too much bored. Plus maybe he'd get to tease a little more Shooting Star. That was one valuable bonus.

The one thing he firstly noticed though when he arrived was one whole side of the room filled with aligned blue caps just identical to the one he had taken so much time and effort to finally take down.

He could almost hear Pine Tree's ironical-yet-perfectly-honestly-mocking hilarity.

_Oh **COME ON**!_

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

.*.

 _RI FDQGB URFNV DQG JXPPB ODQG_  
_ZRUULHG UHVHQWPHQW UXQV OLNH VDQG_  
_ZDQWV WR WUXVW EXW FDQ'W EH WUXVWHG_  
_IXQQB IDWH ZKRVH SDWK JRW UXVWHG_

 _WKLV ERB ZKR VDLG KH KDVQ'W OLHG_  
_VWLOO ZRQGHU ZKDW KH ZRXOGQ'W KLGH_

*.*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. _That_ was one insanely long part. Writing it was hard enough because of spoilers, and I still am waiting for the next episode to get final confirmations about what is still for now mere headcanon; and even though some details like Bill's backstory have been confirmed to appear canonically, I can't wait to know what it really is made of to get a definite idea of Bill's psychological analysis (which is still in my opinion very incomplete and quite messy/simplified in this fiction)... And yet even I had no idea that chapter would end up being **that** long. o_o  
>  While I'm talking about that headcanon thingy: 'dodecadimensional geometry' is just one personal headcanon inspired from Bill's AMA (mostly from the reference to Flatland, obviously). There are many hints as to what I really have in mind, though nothing is clear yet... Things should get some explanations soon enough though. Or maybe not.  
> Fun fact: I chose twelve as a number of dimensions because I needed one specific number that would be much higher than simply three or four (without being too extravagant though — I would have obviously taken 618 in that case, but unfortunately it seemed a little too high), and twelve has a large symbolic in many cultures; in particular dodecahedrons were considered in Ancient Greece as a symbol for the universe. Plus "dodecadimensional" is quite a cool word, I kinda like it :p  
> Btw, I know that Bill was supposed to be initially from the 'second dimension'; but if only in my headcanon, this was from at least a trillion years ago, and _right now_ , that dimension has already been "liberated." So now Bill is instead stuck in... another sort of 'dimension.'  
> Anyways; thanks for reading, don't forget to let a comment and/or to ask any questions if you have some (I will answer each of them whatever happens), and stay tuned for the next issue, which will start the Fourth Chapter of this story. For some teaser, let's just say there should be pine trees and dates. ;D


	11. Interlude — July 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short bonus chapter, to conclude the first part of this fiction. Here is just a little occasion to go back to what caused it all...  
> By the way, for those who want to know, the third chapter ends on **_Wednesday, July 3, 2012_** at approximately 2~3PM.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is a chapter about exra content, here is some extra content. I made a few fan arts about this fiction, and they are all gathered on my deviantart here: **lutias.deviantart/gallery/53353137/Gravity-Falls**  
>  There are both scenes from those three past chapters, and some kind of mini-teasers about the fourth chapter— at least, what was meant to be the first part of the fourth chapter, but it will most probably include now at the very least the two first parts. And for those who want to theorize (let me fantasize about it), I let some hints in the drawings, so have fun tracking them down if you want to.
> 
> I just need to warn you a little: I did tell you I was not into gory-creepy stuff, and I definitely am not. But there still will be here _a little_ of it. But just a few drops, I promise. No one's dying guys, so chill out. We've already seen much more blood in the actual show than that anyway, so I think it should be okay; I'm warning you just in case.

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

**— July 2 —**

Dipper was already starting to chew the fourth thinking pen of the day. Considering it had only been hardly two hours since they had ( _finally_ ) got back home, his paranoia and his nerves were not getting any better; and that argument they just had back in Greasy's Diner was not helping. He was desperately trying to focus, but his pens were just breaking one after another without his trail of thoughts progressing in any way; even his angry mourning over those last events, which was monopolizing the largest part of his brain and wouldn't stop no matter how hard he wanted it to, was only going round in circles and would never reach the dead-end that he knew would be waiting for him at the end of the line.

The door opened. He already knew who it was, and he really was simply not in the mood for this. He didn't even make the effort of looking at her.

"What do you want, Mabel? I told you already, _I'm_ not gonna apologize. He started it all and he deserved it."

His comment was yet greeted with silence. He thought for an instant that maybe he had been wrong and that Soos was the one behind his back or something, but he was cut short when a voice finally answered. _Mabel's_ voice.

"Oh… I'm sorry, but I think that you've missed something. Latest news tell Shooting Star's not here."

That was some quite intriguing response. Dipper was not sure he really understood what this was all about, but what he knew for sure was that it was not anything good.  
He suddenly turned around to face _whoever was definitely not Mabel_.  
And he froze in horror.  
He was welcomed by an overly large and purely evil grin.

"Long time no see, Pine Tree. How long's it been since we first met… hardly two weeks?"

The pen fell to the ground. It didn't make any noise and hardly bounced back after reaching it though. Carpets absorb pretty well kinetic energy after all, especially when the mass falling is that light.  
Dipper was shaking in absolute fright. He had dealt with Bill before and he started to know a little more about that demon, but— no. The fact was, he still didn't know _anything_ about him, or his plans, or what exactly he was capable of. All he knew was— he couldn't be defeated that easily. He was just helpless.

"H-How are you doing this— Where is Mabel?!"  
"Ha, don't you worry about her." the triangle mocked. "After all, she's right here!"

And he had opened Mabel's arms in one grand gesture only a Ringmaster in a circus would make to present his latest attraction and get some cheers of awe from the audience.

"W-What have you done…?!" the boy uttered in a blank and terrified voice. "Let go off her, Bill!"

But of course he wouldn't. He knew that demon would only do things as _he_ pleased. And if he wanted to have fun stealing his sister's body and doing whatever crazy things he had in mind with it, then he would. And there would be no way to stop him.

"Never telling her about me apparently turned out not to be that much of a smart move, did it Pine Tree? She ate my words just like you feed babies with milk. _So_ _gullible_."

Dipper nervously grabbed a broom, the first weapon he could find around him at the moment.

"I-Is Mabel still conscious or something…? W-Where is she?!"  
"I already told you, she's right here. It's a shame though you couldn't possibly see her."

He couldn't take the risk to turn his look away from _Him_ — even if Mabel really was somewhere around them, he would have noticed before if he really had been able to notice her presence, so Bill probably was right on this. So it was not worth letting his guard down just to look for an invisible ghost he wouldn't find anyway.  
The demon kept talking. He really did enjoy saying only the things he knew would hurt the most. He didn't care at all about the broom, because he knew that pre-teen would never dare use it against him. Not when he had Shooting Star's body as a hostage.

"You thought you could keep her away from any more worries, huh? Unless you only thought her not to be trustworthy enough anymore, or just to be a burden… Well, you'd never admit that one anyway so I don't really need to point it out, right?"

Dipper trembled again, both in fear and rage. But his grip on the broom clenched.

"B-Bill, I'm not saying it twice. Get out of her body now, _or else_!"

He didn't care that demon would most probably retort him some really hurting ironical truth, even though deep inside even he already knew those were just fake threats only meant to try to overcome his own panic.  
Yet the demon didn't. He certainly had figured how stupid it would be to point out such obviousness. Instead, he simply laughed in a sadistically cynical yet paradoxically genuine hilarity. Dipper really tried not to show how much his legs were shaking.

"Oh, no, no, no." Bill chanted gently with some kind of sick delight. "Problem is, you see, that's not how it's gonna work. I say _you_ hand to me that little journal of yours — and maybe also that dumb laptop before you get to unlock it — and only _then_ in return I will let your _so **beloved**_ sister back in place."

It was eerie to hear how he had slowly spelled _'beloved'_ , as to separate each letter one from the others and really print as heavily as possible the whole word in the kid's mind. His tone had gathered more irony and vile amusement in that only word than Dipper would have sworn having heard in all his previous sentences altogether.  
The young boy was already trying to remember the book's contents — since he would definitely not let the demon out of surveillance any second —, mentally flipping nervously through the pages in panic, or in hope to ever find anything to get that crazy triangle out of his sister's body; but there was nothing to be found. All he could see while mentally covering the double page in black light was that Bill gaining a physical form was definitely not to be wished about.  
Well, that was convenient to learn such a fact, when he actually _already had one right at the moment_.  
And it was all the more reassuring to realize that the demon perfectly knew what he was _thinking_ about:

"Don't mind searching, that dummy never wrote anything worthwhile in that stupid book anyway. You won't find anything that'd help you out this time. Besides…"

He kept pausing for an overly long time. Dipper uttered his glare, then froze while staring in blank bewilderment at the white knife the demon had kept hidden until then.  
_No. No, no no no this isn't happening this can't be happening—  
_ Bill smirked. It was so eerie to watch that kind of smile on Mabel's face.

"… If you don't fulfill your side of the bargain, I don't see why I should fulfill mine. Just a matter of _justice_ , right?"

And Mabel's little innocent hand raised that ridiculously enormous knife, slowly approaching its blade to the left wrist. Dipper wanted to scream him to stop but he could not move, as if his own body simply refused to react to his panic. Unless his panic itself was preventing him from expressing his fright and despair— in any ways he had simply frozen in horror.  
One long and thin red mark appeared on her left arm. Crimson drops began to pour and stained the bluish carpet.

"Ooh. Pain is hilarious." the demon uttered in some kind of creepily overjoyed whisper. He turned his two evil eyes of a so unnatural color towards him, then added delightedly: "Changed your mind, or shall I continue? I wonder what could be next. Fingers maybe? Would be hard to hold that journal of yours, but since you're not gonna give it to me anyway, they're not much of any use…"  
"N-No-no-no wait, _stop_!" Dipper cried in horror. "W-What are you even doing _this_ for— _What_ did Mabel even ask you?!"

Bill already knew at that point he had won. His evil smirk didn't leave Mabel's face when he slowly held back the knife. If only a few drops were enough to frighten Pine Tree that much, then it would really be fun to torture him a little more— even though it wouldn't be a smart move to use Shooting Star's body for that.  
Hurting her slightly once as a warning was in order to keep that brat back in place; hurting her twice would only make him move and do something _really_ crazy.  
Carrying on talking and watching his mental torture, though, would be such a delight.

"Ooh _that_ , you see… That's very ironic— She _wanted you back_. I promised her I could get you two to tag along just the way you used to before everything happened, and I told her I would have some talk with you. See? I didn't lie at all. We're having a little nice talk right now. All I'll be asking _you_ now, would be to stop investigating 'cause that's kinda annoying you see. So hand me that stupid book already, and you'll finally be back together again— _just like before_."

Before what, that was the question; and that probably had been Bill's loophole in the deal. Such a stupid loophole anyone knowing Bill could have seen—

But Mabel didn't know Bill.

"B-But, you said that journal didn't even contain anything worthwhile anyway— so why would you even _want_ it in the first place…?"  
"Because you're just so close to figuring out some major answers… that would be a shame. I don't need that journal; I just need you to stay away from it."

There was no other way. Bill's plan was flawless. Dipper had realized it long before, but now he was definitely sure of it.  
He started walking away towards the wall, were schemes and boards full of photos and colored string were invading the not-so-blank-anymore space everywhere. He bumped into a little table, and stopped. He slowly put back the broom and took the journal on the table, as if all this time it had been waiting for him to be grabbed and presented at the demon.  
He had no choice.

He felt the soft silly bluish strings of the carpet under his feet, through his socks. It felt like he was walking in some kind of creamy mud that tried to tell him not to keep going.  
But he couldn't risk to lose her. All this time, if he had tried to keep her away from all this madness…

"It's funny what you're about to do though, don't you think Pine Tree?" Bill was chanting ironically. "Is it because your sister's around watching us right now, screaming and pleading even if you can't even hear her? Do you only want to play the hero even if actually, _you don't care_?"  
"I — DO — CARE!"

Dipper had stopped, his left fist clenched while his right hand was holding the journal.  
Bill's smirk intensified.

"Then ask yourself this. Why didn't you ever tell her about what you were _really_ going through?"  
"She— She didn't need to know… She was worried enough and she already had many problems on her own— I didn't want her to worry more than she already did—"  
" _Or_ those were just mere excuses you were making up for yourself to try to silence your own guilt… about how you simply _didn't want her_ to tag along."  
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

The demon raised again Mabel's right hand and playfully made slow circles in midair with the knife, enjoying every single bit of this conversation.

"… is it?" he finally completed, in the most sly tone Dipper had ever heard.  
"S-She… She was the one not to trust me in the first place." the boy blabbered shyly. "She didn't even want to talk to me anymore— I just didn't think she would ever want to keep going on mystery hunts with me, so I just let her go!"  
"Oh yeah, right. She doesn't even _trust you_ anymore. And what are you doing right now? Giving up everything you ever cared about just for her? Who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for such a sibling?"

For the very first time, Bill had lost his smile and was narrowing his eyes.

"Come to your senses, Pine Tree. _Is she really worth it?_ "

That was enough. _Lies, lies, LIES!  
_ The boy couldn't take it anymore. Mabel was _not worth it_? Then he wouldn't have that journal, since it was _not worth it_. He'd see who was _not caring about his sister_.  
As fast as he could, without thinking twice, he dropped the journal and dashed towards the demon, growling in pure anger, ready to tackle him to the ground and force him out of Mabel's body, or whatever he didn't even care anymore. He would get out of his sister's body, SOMEHOW.

Bill dropped the knife. Either that or he had even thrown it away— Dipper was not sure. One thing he definitely was sure of, though…

For one split second, he was sure he had seen Bill _smiling_.

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

.*.

 _VHOILVK LV WKH ERB ZKR LV QHYHU ZURQJ_  
VKHHSLVK LV WKH ERB ZKR QHYHU JRW VWURQJ  
QRZ VLQJV WKH JROGHQ IRA LQ WKH KHQKRXVH  
KHOSOHVVOB ZHHSLQJ LV WKH FULPVRQ PRXVH

WULFNHUB PDVWHU ZKR FODLPV KH FDQ WULFN  
ZKDW D VKDPH KLV HJR PLJKW JHW D FULFN

*.*


	12. Chapter IV — Part 1

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter IV — First Part_ **  
**_Of Triangles and Men  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

"Are you freaking **_not serious_**?!"

It would be tough to find words able to accurately describe Bill's expression at the sight of Shooting Star's new sweater. In fact, merely describing the sweater itself could be sufficient to justify, thus imagine, the strange mixture of absolute wrath paradoxically confined into a reasonably controlled tense fright his face was showing this instant.  
In three words: blue pine tree.  
The sweater was mostly white, though showing a shading towards some darker tones of grey at the bottom — as to show what seemed to be a ground for the forest she had seen in her Dreamscape, maybe. There were some kind of grey 'leaves', or pine tree shards maybe, all over it, here and there, as if they were flying thanks to a nonexistent wind.  
And then there was that one big blue pine tree right in the middle, _almost as big as the sweater itself_.

Bill knew she was a fast knitter. But knitting this one _that_ fast was not even a matter of talent anymore— it was a question of _provocation_. And HECK, she had even made a pair of _matching_ pine tree _earrings_! How could she have possibly done all that in hardly two hours?! Had he been away for _that_ long, or does she just somehow bend the local physics whenever she is creating something?

Upon seeing him, Mabel mentally defined his face as _"priceless"_ … and, most certainly, as _"definitely worth the try_. _"_

"I _knew_ you'd love it!" she indeed chanted gleefully before opening the gift shop's main door and innocently walking outside. "Now I'm sorry, but I've got a date and I'm already late so we're gonna talk about it later if you want to but-for-now-I'm-gonna-go-before-you-get-to-process-that-sentence-so _byyye_ ~!"

She was about to close the door behind her, but Bill had already jumped in and blocked it with his bare panicked hands.

"B-B-But wait y-you can't just go out looking like **_that_**!"

She tried to pull the doorknob a few more times, her –slightly annoyed– grunts still mixing with some hidden giggles. But the former demon would not let go.

"Come on, _'Dipper'_ –ngh– you know how it works. New date means –ugh– _new sweater_!"  
"It has _never_ worked like this. And do you even have _any idea_ what exactly you're—"

The door suddenly eluded his grasp and violently slammed in his face. He quickly seized the doorknob and raced outside, but she was already gone.  
The former demon painfully managed to contain one distinguished growl of pure rage before face-palming and sighing deeply.

"You really do hold a grudge against that demon, don't you."

Though surprised at first by that voice coming from behind, it didn't take much time for him to recognize it and sigh even more.

 _Red_. Of course. _So – perfect – timing_.

Well, that day definitely couldn't get any _better_.

"What makes you think that?" he asked absent-mindedly in a falsely calmly surprised tone. He didn't make the effort of turning towards her, staring annoyingly at the still open door.  
"Just a guess." she shrugged. "It starts with 'blue' and ends with 'tree.'"  
"Pine trees suck and that's an objectively pointless shape. Besides, since when are trees _blue_ in the first place?"

He had finally turned back while saying that last sentence, facing the cashier girl.  
As usual, she was at the cashier desk, doing her job… Well, almost. She was sitting _on_ the desk and seemed to be reading the local Gossiper; but that probably was mostly some kind of cover-up, and she had secretly kept a keen eye on him since their very first discussion in the morning. He just _knew_ it.  
Fortunately Shooting Star also wanted to keep her out of the whole story, and they had both agreed on this from the very start: no one else would be involved.  
If only those tridimensional dummies could just mind their own businesses…

"What happened to your cap?" she suddenly asked, taking him by surprise.

 _And_ of course, already starting with the toughest questions.

"Uh. Barf fairy?" he jerked without really thinking.

She flipped a page, without even blinking.

"Did you honestly expect me to buy that?" she added in the most emotionless tone he had ever heard from her.  
"No." He looked away while annoyingly rolling his eyes.  
"Good." He had almost heard a satisfied smile in that word, but there was none on her face.

She flipped another page already. Was she even _reading_ that newspaper?

"So, uh, about earlier…" he started while walking towards the desk and sitting next to her, but still as far away from her as possible.

He was trying to mimic the most faithful way Pine Tree's embarrassed tone and mimed to rub the back of his neck while awkwardly looking at the ceiling, and it actually didn't come out that badly. Maybe if he managed to act just like him and justify conveniently his past attitude, she would drop the suspicions. Hopefully.

"… I'm sorry I freaked you out. It's just, you know, he's been quite intrusive in my dreams lately so I _might_ get a little obsessed about him every now and then. And his trying to drive us apart means no good. I'm sure he's gonna try to mess with you now, since you got to join me in my investigations… Sorry I got you all mixed up in all this. I guess it's my fault he got to check on you last night. And he probably won't stop…"

Hey, when he really _was_ putting his heart into it, he actually was pretty good! Ha, Red was _so_ gullible. He mentally smirked, finally satisfied of one _finally_ successful achievement.  
_All according to the plan. For once._

"Dude, it's okay." She finally dropped the newspaper and smiled at him. "I guess your paranoia's also rubbing off on me a tiny bit now." she added embarrassedly.  
"I shouldn't have told you about all this, maybe. That creep would've left you alone."

Wendy suddenly burst out laughing and nudged him. He jumped a little bit and didn't really appreciate the gesture ( _seriously, that hurt_ ), but tried to keep his act and nervously returned a (fake) confused smile.

"Oh, come on Dipper! Summer's never been that cool until you got me into your mystery hunts. And hey, just remember how we ruled back in that bunker! We actually defeated a bloodthirsty shapeshifter on our own. How's that?"  
"Ha, yeah." He paused. "If only we could beat that demon just as easily…"

The redhead stared intently at him with an indecipherable gaze.  
He didn't look back.

"What did he exactly do in your dreams?" she finally asked with a calm and low voice. "He was quite nice with me, actually."  
"Don't fall for his act, he's really dangerous. He'll probably try to lure you into thinking _I'm_ the bad guy or something. He just wants to drive us apart so we won't be able to stop him."  
"And do you know what he's up to?"  
"Not yet." He narrowed his eyes in extreme annoyance and genuine worry. "And that's seriously starting to make me _sick_."

That was not a lie, and he hadn't needed to act this time. That was a torture to admit, but he couldn't hide that fact anymore anyway.

"And you? What are _you_ up to?"

He jumped (almost sincerely this time) in genuinely frightened surprise.

"W-What do you mean?" he asked with Dipper's most fearful cracking voice in order to mimic some 'I don't get it seriously that joke isn't funny you're creeping me out now' panic.

_Keep the act. Keep the act. KEEP THE ACT._

"I have to admit, you're pretty good." She took back the newspaper and put back her emotionless expression and tone. "But I don't buy it."  
"Re— W-Wendy, _seriously_?! That's exactly what he wants! You can't be that foolish!"

He stopped suddenly as he saw a grin lurking on her face and slowly his eyes widened in genuine fear. His left cheek's swollenness came back as a reminder.

_This can't be good._

"What was that you were going to call me again?" she slyly asked in an overly slow and almost _joyful_ tone.

Ugh, _of course_. Even if he could somewhat justify the obsession for trees, how would he possibly explain the nicknames? She had even witnessed him calling _Shooting Star_ by her symbol, one thing Pine Tree would obviously never have done in his place, and he had been stupid enough in the heat of the moment to mention her trying to strangle him right the day before.  
He seriously started to doubt that any acting could possibly fix that. And he had to admit, impersonating an awkward paranoid and shy twelve-year-old boy with sweating problems was _also_ starting to get on his nerves.  
And yet he had to keep her out of the way. Of all people, she was the first person he wanted to keep away from the whole business. _Red_ involved could only bring even more trouble.

"You really _do_ hate that tree guy." she commented, thinking that a silence was talkative enough for her previous questions.  
"So what?" He tried to make it sound like a sincere surprise, but only his growing annoyance could be heard.  
"Mabel doesn't."  
"That's beside the point."

He had almost heard her teeth grinding.

"I mean, it's not making any sense!" she finally blurted out in upset confusion. "Why would Mabel even _cover up for you_ in the first place? It's almost like if she didn't even _care_ that you would… _'replace'_ Dipper. I know she's been _really_ mad at him lately, but _seriously_?!"  
"Ha, it does affect you even more than it seems to affect _her_ , am I right toots?"

He could not see it from his current position, but Wendy's left eye had furtively twitched before immediately coming back to its initial state, as if to prove that nothing had actually happened.  
She simply flipped hurriedly a page through the newspaper. Though it had seemed her grip had slightly clenched, because noises of paper being crushed and crumpled could be distinguished.  
The silence was overwhelming.

"Remember what I told you about calling me that?" she said in a relatively monotone and disinterested voice perfectly hiding yet hinting at one reasonably controlled annoyance — if it wasn't some kind of insane but judiciously hidden murder desire. Bill straightened a bit and lost his grin.  
"Y-Yup." He slapped his mouth shut, instinctively covering up his left swollen cheek. "Sorry."  
"Is she even the real Mabel, or did you also get her 'replaced' or something?"  
"Nope. She's definitely the real one." he mumbled quickly while staring at the ceiling from the corner of his irritated eyes.

Wendy tried to flip another page, but let out a whispered grunt when she noticed it already was the last one.

"Ugh. _Whatever_. But I still don't get it, what's your deal with that 'brain demon' anyway?"

She was about to carry on and specify her question, but never got time to:

"Brain demon?" Soos came in. "Oh yeah, you're talking about that creepy triangle guy we met about two weeks ago! Right Dipper?"

Bill froze in a mixture of denied bewilderment, unadmitted horror, and pure rage. He had no idea where that man-child was before and what he had been doing because he was certain he had just entered the gift shop only _seconds ago_ , and yet here he was, and had already made things worse without even _knowing_ what they were talking about.  
A goofily dumb and oblivious Question Mark coming at the most unexpected moments to blurt out the most unexpected absurdities, he could manage. That was funny to see him that clumsy at first. That had gradually become a little more annoying as time passed, but he never really was and just not minding about him was fine. But a Question Mark goofing off to _such_ extent, _that_ was becoming the main masterpiece in the hall of fame of major human stupidity! Either that was a freaking backstabbing conspiracy and they were all secretly aware of everything and trying to plot against him — Shooting Star could _totally_ have prepared such a trick —, or that just was the dumbest slip that guy would ever make in his whole life.  
Why, why, **_why_** had he said that?! For the matter of anything that was holy or whatever, couldn't he just _have a break_ for once?!

" _Triangle_ guy?" Wendy predictably retorted in genuine surprise. "I thought he was supposed to be like a 'blue tree' or something. Just like, you know, the one on—"

 _"… Dipper's cap."_ she never came to reply. Bill mentally face-palmed.  
The redhead looked at him in what appeared to be some kind of confused realization, as if she had already thought about it before without considering it seriously, and was now questioning not about the relevance of those coincidences and their consequential deductions, but about whether or not she should believe it, or even _wanted_ to believe it in the first place.  
Soos was just as oblivious as ever though.

"Well, not really. The demon we met and who invaded Mr. Pines' mind was like a yellow psycho triangle dressed like a cuckoo-tap-dancer or something." he responded thoughtfully. "Hey, maybe he has some kind of secret evil twin brother, like in my theory for Ducktective! Uh, but in that case it'd mean that the real evil twin is the one we already know then… Well, that's confusing. But hey Wendy, doesn't it make the one you met, like, the good guy?"

 _Seriously, can't you just **shut your FREAKING FLESHY YAP?!  
**_ And of course, Red on the opposite was listening with deep attention to that unexpected source of information, not letting any single detail apart in her mind. Soos' tells were hard to follow, but he sure was much more cooperative than _'definitely-not-Dipper.'_  
Because when it came down to talking, Soos was pretty good at making explanations last forever and getting them to… somewhat stray away from the initial subject.

"… And _that's_ how Gideon got the deed and we almost lost the Shack! Can you believe it, how it just came from watching Stan's memories? Hey, now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder what was that favor he was supposed to ask Gideon, do you think he already did it? I guess now he's in jail so he can't do much but still that's creeping me out dude—"  
"FOR EVERYONE'S SAKE QUESTION MARK, JUST _SHUT UP_!"

 _Uuugh._ That definitely surely was _not_ the best moment to crack up, but gosh it actually felt good to _finally_ get him to stop that earsplitting nightmare. Silence didn't last for long, but he had welcomed it with pleasure and enjoyed every split second it had lasted.  
That was when he eventually realized the way he had called him, in front of them both, and just couldn't help but slam his hand against his burning forehead.

_… And that's why I hate human brains._

None of this would have ever happened, were his mind still able to ignore physical laws and just race even faster than light if he just wanted it to, in much more than only three spatial dimensions, just the way it was _supposed_ to work originally. He was sure of it.

"Well, I think you've definitely blown your cover now." Wendy smirked at him while crossing her arms on her chest and looking down at him with sparkles of lime slyness. "Are we still gonna play around for a while, or are you finally gonna spill the beans?"  
"Uh, guys, what are you talking about?" the man-child tried to ask. No one answered him.

The former demon tried to step back, but he hit the cashier's desk. He couldn't help but look up at Red's glare.

"Well, Soos," she slowly grinned menacingly without getting her light green eyes away from Bill's, "don't you think that 'Dipper' has been acting somewhat _strange_ lately? Almost as if he… wasn't himself anymore, maybe."

He had to admit, that last cry of pure anger and that strange nickname he had definitely heard somewhere before were _not really_ Dipper-like. But still, he had missed most of the events… so he could only relate to her testimony without really having his own opinion.  
However that one sentence had been enough, in a way. So he just went with a hesitant 'Uh, yeah, maybe…'

"I thought at first it was absurd, but I think I'm starting to know who that might really be." And according to the lucidly confident look in her eyes, of course that _'might'_ she had added in her sentence was sarcastic. She definitely was sure of it, this time. "Listen up, _demon_ , now that Mabel's not here to protect you anymore, you'd better confess because I'm not gonna hold back. Last time's buffet was just the appetizer."

Cornered. Cornered. Cornered.  
He just couldn't focus on anything. Ideas were coming and running away, all at the same time, but he couldn't get to identify and gather them into any plan like he used to do, yet apparently could not do anymore. Human brains were so slow!

_LET ME **THINK** , DAMMIT—!_

" _OI!_ What you suckers think you're doing?!"

Everyone jumped upon hearing Stan's loud yell. Wendy wanted to argue, but she didn't even get the time to open her mouth and raise her arm to object.

"There's a whole bunch of tourists coming up right now, so stop goofing around and just help me bleed'em dry! Whaddya think I hired you for?!"

And the old man kept giving orders without even noticing his employees' discontent… Well, most accurately, without _caring_ about it actually. Just as usual.  
The redhead tried desperately to warn him, but couldn't even find her words. Warn him about _what_ , after all? That his nephew somehow turned out to be an evil brain demon? She didn't even have _tangible_ evidence in the first place.  
Well, except for a missing cap, but who would buy that one?

"As for you, Dipper." Bill mimed to jump in surprise. The old man looked down at him angrily. "Any idea where your sister's gone? She keeps missin' work lately."  
"She said she was going on a date or something. Probably not gonna show up before a while." the former demon _innocently_ stated.

He heard some random muttering under the conman's breath, but he quickly mimed to jump once more as soon as the elder's shouts started again, ordering him to go and find her immediately and bring her back.  
That was too good to be true. Bill was so much surprised by such _good luck_ for once, that he actually believed he had somewhat misunderstood. But as soon as his _'great-uncle'_ had started scolding him again, he ran outside as quickly as possible… Well, only after smirking ironically at Red, of course, who had both eyes burning like two fiery emeralds.  
He would definitely not come back before closing time. They both knew it all too well.

As soon as Stan had left the room in order to welcome the next random horde of walking wallets, Wendy couldn't help but punch the cashier desk out of rage. She had been so close!

" _Uugh!_ I know Stan _still_ doesn't believe in the supernatural, but seriously?!" She sighed deeply and literally fell on her seat behind the desk, making the stool make a full loop with slight creaking noises. "Sometimes I almost wish we could bring some monster or something in the Shack and just rub it at his face. Honestly Soos, I really think we'll need to open his eyes someday."

On the other hand, though… That demon couldn't run away forever. He'd have to stay at the Shack, probably, so she would just see him the next day and start over…

_And next time, he'll talk. Whether he likes it or not._

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '


	13. Chapter IV — Part 2 (Breakfast)

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter IV — Second Part_ **  
**_Of Triangles and Men  
_ **

— Breakfast —

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

He seized once again the saltcellar and shifted it back one millimeter to the right.

He tensely sighed in silence. Why would she come back?  
He didn't believe in miracles. And the odds of her return were statistically pretty low, if there even were any in the first place.

No, no-no that wasn't right. Two millimeters to the left, maybe.

She had been so angry the day before— either that or she was just desperately sad. In any ways, she was deeply upset… She had wanted her 'two favorite boys in the world' to tag along, and they had just messed up everything in the end.  
Was it his fault?

Ugh. Maybe a little more forward…? It looked kinda nice there, right next to the pepper mill.

It couldn't be his fault— he only wanted to help. It was all because of her brother— what was his name again, _'Dipper'_? That wasn't even a real name. But it kind of suited well his character. Stubborn and obsessively stuck into empty illusory dreams.  
But maybe he really had gone a little too far?

To the right. Right was always right. If that even made sense in the first place—  
His teeth grinded. _Come on, now's not the time for terribly lame puns!_

He sighed again, but then bit his lip in a determined resolution.  
He would tell her.

No, absolutely not. To the _left_. She was never adding salt in any of her meals after all. He would have to keep it away from her and leave her some space.

But… was it really the right time for this?

One half of a millimeter a little more to the corner of the table. They would need some vital space. He would need everything to be perfect. The surroundings were the first thing to catch people's attention and have an influence upon their initial mood.  
Maybe he should have chosen a better place for that, then. Greasy's Diner was not really the best setting for such circumstances.

Would she even show up…?

"HEY WILLIAM!"

He accidently knocked the saltcellar over and it spilled half of its white pale snow on the brownish table, its lid quietly rolling away before falling and bouncing on the floor a few times while making random tinkling noises. Then it got stuck between the cracks of the decaying parquet.  
_Oh no-no-no oh my gosh please no—!_

"I'm so sorry I'm late. I was held up by some random dumb guy."

And there she was.  
His heart was still racing and he could still feel it bouncing in his chest because of the surprise ( _I didn't know she could shout **that** loudly_ ), but when he turned back towards her and followed her gaze with his own eyes as she was walking towards her seat in front of him, he couldn't help but show a little relieved smile.

_Well… I guess she's back to normal._

And honestly, he had never seen her _that_ happy. So here was her true face when she was expressing her fullest and deepest joy? She seemed like a completely different person.  
She was _radiant_ with cheerfulness.

"You're, uh… You look good today. H-How did it go with— I-I mean, what about your brother…?"  
"It _all_ – worked – out~!" she chanted in pure delight. "He forgave you for everything, he's finally back to normal, and we're finally all happy together!"

 _Wow_. Maybe miracles _did_ happen, after all.

"Woah. Incredib— uh-I-mean that's great!"  
"I know, right? I just wish you could meet again but for now I think that would be kinda tough— but let's just forget about that for now, that's not important."

He confusedly narrowed his blue eyes, but didn't point it out. She was often starting to talk about some weird nonsensical things, and he had learnt early enough to just not mind about them.

One thing he noticed though— she had gladly moved her arms in all possible directions while talking, and her new sweater's sleeves had started to slide down. That was when he saw one little bandage around her left wrist. It was quite recent (he was sure it wasn't there just the day before, at least), and he could still see some very pale crimson traces beneath the white cloth.  
His look suddenly darkened and started to show both suspicion and worry. Could it be…?  
_You're not telling me everything here. What **really** happened back there?_

"Uh— Mabel, what happened to your hand?"

She seemed to jump in shudder, then glanced at her wrist and started to laugh awkwardly before putting back the sleeve in its intended place— completely covering the wound and making it absolutely invisible.

"D-Don't worry about it— it was just an accident yesterday. I guess there _are_ some dangerous tools at the Shack I shouldn't be playing with."  
"I know you like manual workings, but you really should be more careful." he uncomfortably mumbled.  
"Y-Yeah, I know… Don't worry, that won't happen ever again. I learned my lesson."

Her tone was sounding strange, but it felt like she was speaking the very truth… in a way. But she still seemed like she wanted to avoid the main point for some reason.  
William raised back a shy and unsure look towards hers, but tried to regain some confidence before eventually starting to talk.

"Mabel… There's something I've been meaning to ask you."

He bit his lip. His voice had sounded much more serious than he had wanted it to, and now she almost looked concerned, or… wait, was she actually trying to hide a smile or something? W-What was she thinking about?!  
He tried to calm down his heartbeats, but he still felt pretty nervous. If he ever got to say that, he could just potentially ruin everything… But since the previous day, he had felt that he just had to. Out of curiosity, and because they all needed that to be said eventually.

_Here goes nothing…_

"It's about all those, you know… _things_ your brother was reading about in his weird book yesterday… magic and stuff." He sighed tensely again while closing his eyes, then opened them back and stared at her intensely. "You _do_ know it's not real, right?"

Mabel's smile disappeared completely. She gazed upon him with two undecipherable eyes melting in dripping chocolate. Her eyebrows seemed to mimic some sorrowful and intensely sad despair, as if she was strongly willing to ask him something sounding like _"Why are you doing this? How could you say that? Don't you see how much that hurts?"_

He could only feel even more guilt upon seeing _this_. For once he actually had been able to see her happy, and now— such an _idiot_!  
But still, she… had to figure that out eventually, right…? She would have to grow up… He only wanted to help— even if it could hurt…

The silence was overwhelming. Well at least, it _would be_ if that random squirrel hadn't suddenly fallen from the near window and jumped on his head, making them both squeak in surprise and getting Mabel to help him get it off his –now pretty messy– golden hair.

_Okay, Greasy's Diner was **definitely not** the best setting for this._

She seemed a little more at ease now, but her gloomy face still was there.  
Maybe he had to find a better way to bring that all up…

"I-I'm sorry I said he had a bad influence on you— I-I g-guess it's easy to get stuck into that kind of stuff when you're living in that 'hut of mysteries' or something… But—"  
"William, we both know it's all fake in Stan's museum. We're not _that_ stupid."  
"Then what are those stories and tales all about? Even sometimes _you_ were starting to talk about things that wouldn't add up— you surely have a great imagination Mabel, but… I-I just wanted to be sure. You don't actually _believe_ those happened, right? O-Or maybe they were just some really cryptic private jokes with your brother about some role-play games or whatever or—"

He stopped, his nervous gaze falling into her brown shining irises.  
That look was radiant with confidence and determination. One he had never seen yet, let alone expected to ever watch on her face.

"I don't believe they happened, William." she calmly retorted, though in a very deeply serious tone, as to show how much she meant was she was saying. "I _know_ they happened— and Dipper didn't tell me much about what he's been dealing with lately, but he's really been through a lot. Probably even much more than me."

Still startled by such answer, he couldn't help but stay silent for a moment, his mouth slightly gaping in surprise.  
So all along, she had also been _that much_ into all those absurdities…?

"M-Mabel, please. My mother's a teacher at West Coast Tech and regularly tells me about all the experiments and research they're doing in their labs— if anything, I _think_ I can tell apart what's possible and what isn't." he shyly stuttered. "Magical spells and junk are not what we could objectively classify under _'potentially physically acceptable'_."  
"You told me you were from Massachusetts, right?" William felt a chill run in his back as he heard Mabel's rhetorical question. Her tone was somewhat harsh, even though it was obvious that she didn't mean to make it sound that cold. "Dipper and I are not from Gravity Falls either, and since we arrived here… Trust me, we really got to see some _really_ amazing things. I know that sounds crazy, but I can assure you that it's _not_ fake, nerdy science approved or not."

And with that Lazy Susan suddenly came and cheerfully interrupted them, obliviously asking them if they had decided what to order. As Mabel quickly chose to take some pancakes, William realized he had forgotten to think about it. Well, maybe just like the previous times after all, the pie would do… He didn't really care about what he would order actually, so he'd just go with something light and cheap.

"How about my coffee omelet?" the old lady offered. "You look like the kind of boy who loves mystery," (she attempted to teasingly wink at him, but nobody noticed), "and it has a secret ingredient in it. Guess you can't figure which one."

William blinked, looked away in embarrassment for a split second, then stared at her blankly.

"Um. Coffee…?" he uttered awkwardly, narrowing his eyes in an attempt probably to sound funny, though himself was not really amused.

The waitress used her free hand to lift her left eyelid and show two wide eyes.

"Are you some kind of wizard?" she playfully laughed in some kind of almost genuine bewilderment. "You know, we used to have a cute little psychic kid in town until around two weeks ago. It's a shame he was revealed to be a fraud…"

But she simply wrote down about the pie in her notebook, in addition to Mabel's pancakes. As she eventually walked away, Mabel eyed him a not-so-subtle _'I told you'_ with a collusively playful smile.

"That's beside the point." he annoyingly mumbled while rolling his eyes. He leaned closer towards her, lowering his tone in order to try not to let his thoughts be heard by anybody else: "Mabel, this _whole town_ is crazy. I don't know who its founder was, but he definitely was legally insane, and most of the townsfolks probably are too." He stood back and crossed his arms annoyingly. "I mean, who would ever want to live in a… _'gimme-a-cracy'_?"  
"That's spelled 'gimmieocracy'."  
"Whatever. I don't want to ruin your fantasies Mabel, and I know that spending your whole vacations in your uncle's hut is not helping, but all this 'supernatural' thing is just some local legend they've been making up for maybe centuries. Look, even the craziest people here still don't believe in _actual_ magic— at least they don't seem to, or they just don't care."

The girl sighed annoyingly, leaning back in her own seat and pouting, as to try to show some deep reflection. But a few seconds apparently were enough, because almost immediately she blinked in illumination and found back her smile and determined look.

"You know what? I've got an idea. We'll go on some mystery hunt tomorrow, so you'll see whether that's just dumb local legend or not."  
" _What_?!" William exploded in shock. "Mabel, t-that's crazy! There could be bear traps, or mountain lions, or we could just get lost…" The girl giggled as he was seriously starting to freak out. "B-Besides, you know about that roaming unknown animal in the woods right now, don't you? We could get killed in there!"

Oh yeah. That thing that was starting to become a real local celebrity in the _Gravity Falls Gossiper_ 's headlines since the last few days…  
Mabel rolled her eyes, both in amusement and annoyed boredom, as paradoxical as it could sound.

"Oh come on, Dipper and I already dealt with that stuff many times, we'll be fine! I'm sure that whatever that thing is, it's definitely not _that_ terrible." She suddenly gasped in awe. "Maybe it's a werewolf!"  
"First off, that thing _flies_." he retorted coldly. "And second, please, _no_. I'm serious here, Mabel, that creature is no laughing matter. It's been kidnapping sheep in the nearest farm for days, and it could just as much start to attack kids like us if we're not careful enough."

And he _still_ was denying it to potentially be of a supernatural origin…? Wow, what a lost cause. Or a nerd. But Dipper was a nerd— uh, that was confusing.  
Anyways, she couldn't just let him sink into ignorance forever and make fun of her brother for his activities, no matter how good the initial intention was. A creepy silver smile slowly started to grow on her face as a demonic idea suddenly came to her mind.

"I'm warning you, then. I'll do it anyway, with or without you. If you don't come and meet me here tomorrow at twelve, I'm going there on my own. Your choice here."

He unsurprisingly tried to reason her, but she was resolute. After all, she knew that she was right anyway.

"Ooh, man." he eventually face-palmed worriedly once he realized there was no way out of it.  
"C'mon, it won't be that bad. You'll see, that's gonna be fun; and hey, maybe we'll even get to see some fairies!"  
"Oh yeah, and then you'll have your honeymoon at the gnome tavern. Very romantic setting, you'll see."

Both of them jumped, then turned their heads in a synchronized movement towards the same direction, that was to say, obviously the one from which that new voice came from.

Mabel froze.

"Sup." Bill merely saluted while hardly raising a hand to wave sarcastically at them.  
"W-What are you doing here…?" Mabel asked in a cold, but almost shaky voice. She was painfully trying to mimic some awkward smile and welcome him kindly as if she was warm-heartedly surprised, but no one was fooled.

William tried to return a greeting gesture, and yet he couldn't help but feel that something about 'Dipper' was… _different_ , in comparison with the day right before.  
First off, he was _confident_. That definitely was the complete opposite of what he had seen the first and last time they had met, and he was not really sure that was some good news. Given his sister's reaction at his sight… he could guess that they were definitely not telling the whole truth here.

"Oh you know, just wandering about." the pre-teen retorted while shrugging slyly and staring at the ceiling with a demonic grin. "Stan's looking for you anyway."

 _Okay, whatever this is that I missed, that must have been something huge.  
_ Was it even possible to change _that_ much in merely twenty-four hours?

"Um, Dipper, right?" He tried to give him a welcoming smile, but his nervousness was evident. "Mabel told me about you and I… wanted to apologize for yesterday. We started off on the wrong foot, so uh— how about we start over?"

He had stood up and raised a hand towards him to accompany his speech, noticing for the first time that he had one or two inches over him. Well, he technically was the elder one by a few months, but still, it felt strange to be actually taller and yet… That guy had some way of staring _down_ at him— it was not physically visible, and yet this spark in his brown eyes that were reflecting nothing but overconfidence and disdain towards him…  
It felt even stranger to remember that none of those emotions were present hardly _one day before_.

'Dipper' barely looked down at his hand with some kind of strangely mocking glare.

"Oh yeah, about that. Sorry, but I just said that so my sister would leave me alone."

Mabel's mouth gaped open in absolute horror.  
_Oh no, no-no-no please you can't…!_

"What do you mean…?" William asked in a blank tone. Mabel was cleverer than that, she would have noticed if that really was the case… wouldn't she? On second thought, maybe she had just shut herself away in her fantasies and denial. That wouldn't be the first time.  
"It means what this means. You know, I'd expected some more from a Trigger. They're some clever dummies, so I had assumed you'd be like your parents."

The younger raised a faked confused finger underlining his chin, as to show some ironical and cynic reflection. His giant smirk was still there.

"Oh but wait, you _are_ just like your parents. Clever, and gullible. So weak and gullible. I like your mother, like if she thought she could learn about everything. Annie, am I right?"  
"H… How can you know about my parents…?" the teen uttered defensively.  
"There's something we call _the Internet_ , my dear boy. It's not hard to find some pretty juicy data about anybody you'd wish to know more about." Bill sniggered.

Of course that was not how _exactly_ he had learnt about him, but it was funny to _still_ outsmart him with the mere basic human knowledge.

"D-Dipper, that's enough."

The grin slightly faded as he turned to face Shooting Star… only to then grow even wider.

"Ooh, would you look at that." He crossed his arms confidently, cackling maniacally. "The boy's a wimp, the girl tries to play the hero." He paused for a few seconds, only to let his cruel laugh soften a bit. "But what did you expect? That things could just go the way you wanted them to, after what he's done? Were you expecting us to _hug it out_? Ha!"

This combination between disguised lies and comedy sounded so disturbing. The way he could so easily hide his demonic and personal sadism behind the events Dipper had lived right the day before, mixing truth and lies, almost made her wonder and forget about what even had happened in the first place. That felt even so much eerier to realize that _she_ had been there when it had happened… and that _he_ _had not_.  
She tried to repress a sob of pure despair, still willing not to believe what she was witnessing at this moment.

He truly was the master of manipulation.

"Hey!" William snapped angrily. "I don't know what's wrong between you two, but I won't let you talk to her like that!"  
"Oh, and what will you do, _I.Q._?" It was even more intimidating to realize how much this nickname sounded _ironical_. "Scold me? Come on, you're a rational boy; you should know that _morals don't exist_."

Mabel had had enough. She brutally stood up and raised a fist, but Bill stopped her with his bare hand, seizing her left wrist. The girl started to inaudibly cry in pain as he was firmly grabbing the very wrong spot, probably on purpose.  
She struggled slightly, but he had already let her go and watched her face to face with an unreadable expression. Though his confidence made it obvious that he knew he had won. Or he _believed_ that whatever they could say or do, he would always have the upper hand.  
Because he had.

"I knew you were a jerk…" she panted in a bewildered and desperate whisper, nervously stepping back while rubbing her wrist. "But I'd never guessed you'd go _that_ far, Bill."

Her voice was cracking. William froze, as he immediately understood what was about to happen. He saw her eyes starting to get wet, but only for a split second— Because she was already gone.  
He nervously tried to race after her, but Dipper got in the way and firmly blocked him.

"Don't you go nowhere." He smirked sadistically as he lazily gestured his head towards the now empty table, with just the half-empty saltcellar without its top, standing next to the pepper mill and the menu. "You haven't paid the bill yet."  
"Do you really think that's what matters right now?!" the teen cried in an absolute bafflement of pure anger.  
"Besides, you could never get after her anyway." the younger calmly retorted, completely ignoring his point. "And you know why, don't you?"

A chill ran along his back as he saw the kid's grin become wider and wider, gradually and creepily enlarging itself.

"You simply wouldn't have the guts to face her now." he finished slyly.

William's fists clenched and started to tremble a bit; yet he couldn't help but stop and look at the kid in puzzlement as he lazily walked towards the table and comfortably took a seat, gesturing him to join.

"Come on, chill out. I'd just like to have a little chat with you."

The elder was simply way too stunned to do anything but open his mouth and watch as no word would ever come out of it. He still was standing in the middle of the corridor, staring in bewilderment at this _insane psychopath_.  
Because there simply was no other way to put it.

Lazy Susan suddenly came, holding two plates. She watched in confusion as apparently one of her customers was gone, and another one had taken her place.

"Oh. Where is your cute little friend?" she asked the blonde. "Did she have to go?"  
"Yes, I'm sorry ma'am." Dipper innocently retorted in an overly soft tone. "She was quite in a rush. But it's okay, you couldn't have known."

The old lady glanced again at the elder boy, who eventually understood that he had no other choice but to sit back down. He watched as she set the plate with his slice of pie in front of him, and hardly raised his eyes when he heard the other boy chuckling with glee.

"Oh, I'll gladly take those pancakes. Would be a shame to waste them, wouldn't it? They look so delicious."

⁂  
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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First news: as you may or may not have noticed at the very beginning of this chapter, this specific part actually has a title. Well, this is not an actual title, but more specifically some kind of way to distinguish the three "second parts" of this chapter. Because yes, this is only a third of the real "second part." The whole part was way too long to fit in only one 'chapter.' And since I noticed that it could be split into three different scenes, well, why not after all. So there's no surprise in this, the next parts will be (IV,2,b): Lunch and (IV,2,c): Dinner, respectively. Those titles are much more symbolic than chronological of course, since the three of them occur during merely, let's say, approximately two or three hours at most. Plus, for those who lost track of time at this point (which would be perfectly understandable), it is currently **around 04:00 PM** at the beginning of this part.
> 
> Second news: yes, that was William. I guess that now that you've seen the guy, your thoughts might be pretty much, uh, let's say, _mixed_. That's completely normal. And hey, not as if I hadn't warned you before, I did say that guy was just some random pushover and that you shouldn't expect too much from him. 8D  
>  One thing we could indeed start wondering is what Mabel would even find in him in the first place... Well, that's a legitimate question, and that's why I'm not gonna answer it. If you want to complain, my pet axolotl from the complain department takes all my calls.
> 
> And for those who would want a little recap of what we know about William (and who haven't seen his profile from my DA), here it is: William David Trigger, 13 since March 15, 2012, is from Groton, Massachusetts. His mother Annie is indeed a biology teacher at West Coast Tech. He is technically a teen, but though he indeed is slightly taller than Dipper and Mabel, he is quite short for his age. In the cartoon design logic, I mean.  
> And uh, yeah, making him a blonde with blue eyes was just another attempt from me to be ironic.


	14. Chapter IV — Part 2 (Lunch)

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter IV — Second Part_ **  
**_Of Triangles and Men  
_ **

— Lunch —

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

This could be the hottest summer in ages, and yet by a ninety-six degrees she still felt incredibly cold. Chills were running down her spine and her stung eyes were freezing, despite the burning tears rolling down on her cheeks. And it was not the lack of wind or the poor shadows of the forest avoiding her that would lower the temperature. Even the pine tree's trunk she was leaning back against, albeit being hard and rough, had been bathing in the burning sun for the whole day and was offering her a boiling and dry pillow. And yet she still felt cold.

She simply couldn't believe it.

She had known Bill as a funny little dumb and cute triangle that was soon enough revealed to be a heartless liar, as a psychopathic trickster sickly enjoying her cries of despair, as a sadistic selfish jerk with a personal disturbing sense of humor and an overinflated ego, and yet… She still had never expected him to go to such extent just because _he would find it **funny**_. And now she was all the more angry at herself for having forgot what he _himself_ had warned her about _since the very beginning_ : he was a _demon_. Pure and simple. No logic behind. He was a demon, so _of course it all makes sense_ , he's a bad guy. No need to dig into insane Freudian psychologies, because he was just a **demon**.  
It felt both so obvious and so ironically unfair.

She started to hug herself in an attempt to calm her chills, but it was useless. The cold was not physical after all. And yet she raised her sweater's turtleneck above her head and stretched its bottom over her legs, as if denial could be the key. But of course she already knew that hiding would lead her nowhere, and she still ignored it. She had managed to ignore it for ages, so why would she ever start to realize? It was warmer inside anyway and the unicorn traffic was funny to imagine. There certainly wouldn't be any _not-my-brother_ demons messing with them for his own sick pleasure.

She suddenly felt a light pressure on her shoulder. It was impossible to describe, it was both chilly and warm, stressful and serene, and upon feeling that peacefully scared hand she had both stiffened and relaxed at the same time— if that was ever possible.  
Then a voice called her name, softly. She would recognize it anywhere.

Her head raised from Sweater Town in a rush, as she stared both with relief and bewilderment at the colorless surroundings, and there, right in front of her, barely two feet away from her face, the blue pine tree, who was looking at her with one big cute and worried eye.

 _Dipper…_ She never came to say that word, but her slightly open mouth was shaping it.

She repressed a sob, then clumsily stood up and threw herself in his arms, taking him by surprise. He barely managed to catch her as she seemed about to lose her balance due to both her fatigue and emotions, and she hugged him tightly. She didn't even care about his demonic appearance anymore, and she was almost starting to believe that getting him to shapeshift into his old form would only make things worse. She did prefer her old nerdy Dipping Sauce of course, but… just, _not now_.  
Paradoxically, the last face she wanted to see this moment was the one of Dipper Pines, after Bill had ruined it for her.

She repressed another distressed sob at the horribly ironical thought.

"Hey… It's okay." the demon whispered uncomfortably. But _of course she was not okay_.

She was still burying her face over his nonexistent shoulder, sometimes hiccupping as she was silently crying. His look slowly lowered as he tried to return her hug and comfort her as much as he could, and yet… he simply felt helpless, and _guilty_.  
Could he even tell her that he had seen the whole scene without even trying to defend them? Somehow, he felt she already knew anyway.

He was still wondering. Should he have intervened? Could he have changed anything, anyway? Would he have only made things even worse? There would have been too many witnesses, he couldn't have just appeared before the eyes of the whole restaurant— let alone William. And yet, he still couldn't help but be even angrier at himself, as he had watched everything without even flinching… As he had let Bill have _fun_ hurting them, especially his sister.

All he could do now was try to fix what could still be fixed…

"Wait." Mabel had gradually calmed down, and eventually started to realize what really had happened. She looked at the black and white surroundings in puzzlement, then at him: "Did I just fall asleep in the middle of the forest?"

The demon's eye twitched uncomfortably.

"Uh… S-Sort of. It's kinda my fault this time." Dipper had looked away and raised an awkward hand to his sort-of-head as to try to rub the back of his neck, until he realized he technically didn't have one anymore. Mabel noticed and giggled weakly, almost as if she was somewhat forcing it. It was still funny but she wasn't really in the mood right now. "B-But don't worry," he continued nervously, "if there's anything around, I'll warn you and wake you up immediately. You're not in danger."

She smiled faintly. Yet, her curiosity had been somewhat aroused, and the demon apparently had noticed because he had immediately started to explain:

"Looks like another of Bill's abilities, like, putting people to sleep in a given area… All I know is that it only works when a pine tree's around. Guess that was working for triangles in his case."  
"He did appear right in the frame of the window in my room the first time I saw him." she realized thoughtfully. "But, wait. You mean you used my sweater to actually…"  
"I don't really know how exactly it works, but it seems like any depiction of a tree close enough to my own shape works the same way as some kind of peephole to the dimension Bill used to live in. So uh… yeah."

She found it funny to see Dipper feeling that awkward for something that actually was pretty handy. She was seeing it as some kind of very cool superpower, and… it felt reassuring. All this time she had been thinking her brother was lost in a completely different plane of reality or something, and then now he was telling her that he had been closer than ever.  
That felt both shocking and amazing.

"Wow. I had knit that sweater so that I'd feel like you'd still be somewhere around… Who would've thought that was literal?!" She giggled excitedly. "Ha, now I understand why Bill was _that_ mad when I showed him! His face was still worth it, though."

Yet she frowned for a second, before her face suddenly lit up.

"Hey! But then, if you can just put people to sleep and appear to them just like that, then we could totally show William that you were right all along, and then he'll just _have_ to believe us! Plus, you could kick Bill's butt for making you sound like a jerk."

She had already been back to her cheerful attitude and waving gleefully her arms in midair in excitement. Dipper chuckled slightly at first, but tried to calm her:

"I'm not so sure that'd be a good idea, Mabel." he mumbled timidly.

Her sister stopped and narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"What?! But why?"  
"First off, not at the diner. I can't just put the whole restaurant to sleep and have all the townsfolks to freak out."  
"I'll just bring them here, then—"  
" _Second_ , I…" He lowered shyly his eye in hesitation, probably looking for the right words to say: "I don't think telling William about the situation is a good idea. Even about the supernatural in general."

She blinked in surprise, silently asking him to go on. She still was strongly disagreeing, but she wanted to hear his reasoning. Maybe he would have a point after all…

"I mean, you saw how he was. If he came to learn just like that that mountain lions are far from being the most dangerous creatures in town, he wouldn't take it well."  
"But, we can't just let him think you're insane and paranoid when he's wrong!"

And there it came again. His _'Trust me, that's the safest option for everyone.'_ It almost sounded like an _'I'm all-knowing, remember?'_ , and there was her own impression of a silly little brother in her head parodying his own speeches: _"I know what's wrong and what's not and you should all do as I tell you 'cause I'm Dipper the All Mighty Demon and I'm aaaaall-knowing~!"_

She saw the pine tree narrow slightly his eye in some kind of adorable little pout. She could perfectly feel his annoyed _"Hey, I don't sound like that!"_ in his embarrassed crossed arms and his little pupil looking away, and she couldn't help but giggle.  
She suddenly randomly took his top hat and tried to lower it on his eye. It was way too small to cover his whole sort-of-face, but it was still funny— and the demon's reaction when he jerked in surprise was just priceless.

"H-Hey! What was _that_ for?!" he cried while trying to put the top hat back in place.  
"I'm sorry, but you're just _soo~_ cute when you're angry!" she chanted between two muffled laughs.

 _Yeah, good thing you didn't see me when I was angry for real then…_ he couldn't help but think in a forced and nervous chuckle.  
But he dropped his little black arms in worry when he saw Mabel's expression saddening again.

"So we really won't tell anyone about this, huh… Not even William…" she uttered emptily.

His eye was evidently showing a vast and violent conflict. Not that he cared about that guy, whether he learned about magic or not was not the real problem— well, it sort of _was_ , but it was not affecting him directly, not to that extent…  
No, he was worried about her. He closed his eye and forced it strongly for a few seconds, trying not to think about that.

_Not gonna happen. Never._

Mabel saw with a mixture of incomprehension and concern that he was slightly shaking.

"It's… better for everyone. At least, if you still want to go on your mystery hunt with him— please be careful. Don't show him too many things."

She lowered her head slightly, biting her lip and leaning back against the tree behind her before letting her back slide against it until she was sitting down in the grass. It was a weird feeling, as if all the setting was frozen and she was the only thing to be actually _'alive'_ around, besides Dipper. She hadn't felt any resistance against her sweater being torn out by splinters— there weren't even any splinters anymore. She had just slid against a big black and white block of what almost felt like ice or crystal.  
The dream demon floated down, once again putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go back to the Shack." he simply muttered.

She looked up and met his eye. Then she silently nodded.  
Dipper rose in the air, but stopped midway and turned back one last time. He hesitated slightly, but tried to 'smile' at her and told that everything would be fine…

"I'll talk to Bill." he added after a pause. "I promise."

He then snapped his fingers and Mabel's eyes opened in the middle of Sweater Town. She jumped in slight surprise and looked up and around after lowering her turtleneck, but the colors were back and Dipper was gone.  
She glanced back at her legs still hidden underneath her sweater, and saw the big blue pine tree on it.  
_Well… Not completely gone._

She weakly got up and started to walk, taking off her pine tree earrings and keeping them in a tight grip against her heart.

.*.

**_45 . 109 753 639 … %_ **

*.*

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' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little transition before the third and last sub-part, so here is some tender cuteness between our two favorite kids. Not much really happens, but seems like we get some new clues anyway...


	15. Chapter IV — Part 2 (Dinner)

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter IV — Second Part_ **   
**_Of Triangles and Men  
_ **

— Dinner —

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

'Dipper' was about to finish his third pancake, enjoying the food to an extent that almost felt beyond humanly imaginable.

William hesitated at first, but as the kid's ignoring was becoming even more intense than before and just as unbearable as it appeared to be _deliberate_ , he couldn't help but clear his throat awkwardly in order to try to regain his attention.

"Didn't you want to tell me something?"

The pre-teen stopped eating and stared at him with a somewhat startled-looking pout, his mouth full and his eyes radiating with senseless amusement.

"… I did? Sorry, might've forgotten. Couldn't be that important anyway. Why did you stay here to begin with?"

That troll had been so unexpectedly obvious and yet surprising that the elder, filled with bewilderment, couldn't even find the rage to react beyond his simple wide-eyed shocked glare faintly radiating with a hopeless _"Are you SERIOUS?!"_  
Yet he couldn't do anything but sigh. There was no way now to know where Mabel could have gone, and he… was not really sure it would have been a good idea to try to find her right now anyway. That guy really had won, uh? Whatever he had been doing this for.

But now that he was still there… Maybe _he_ could be the one to ask the questions, then. That kid sure knew quite a _lot_ of things, and he was determined to find out how and _why_ exactly he was doing it.

"By the way… why did Mabel call you, uh, _'Bill'_ , earlier?"

Heh. _Now_ he was getting a reaction. He couldn't help but feel a hint of a smirk draw itself in the corner of his lips as he crossed his arms and slightly leaned forward, trying his best to look _confident_.

Bill had jumped in surprise and, for a few seconds, actually felt cornered, as he remembered that _yes_ , that stupid girl had actually slipped up in the middle of her crybaby act, and that now _he_ had to fix it.  
But there was no point in even _faking_ feeling defeated. That dumb and tacky novice of a detective was no match for his great mind and his pointless questions would not stand a second with his current state of mind. Even if that young guy _were_ observant enough, his resolution to try to explain everything without any trace of supernatural in it just prevented him from being a potential threat.  
And even if _that_ started to change someday for some reason, he just was some random pushover and would be way too much of a coward to even _want_ to keep digging, if he accidentally came to find out a little too much for his flat mind. The only way that kid could ever become a potential yet still ridiculously benign threat, would be through his family. And still, even at that point… _He_ didn't really care anymore; whatever happened from now on, his plans were ruined for the next three generations at least, so _that_ would not have _any_ influence whatsoever anymore.

So actually deliberately letting him notice some little suspicious hints in order to watch him desperately try to put the pieces together and find some conclusive explanation to everything without adding _any_ single bit of magic into it would be simply _hilarious_.  
Oh, but he wasn't _that_ sadistic either; he would be nice enough to give him some hints all the way, so that he could still keep the illusion of actually making progress, and wouldn't get too bored or desperate… So he started with the most obvious ones:

"You _do_ know that 'Dipper' is just a nickname, right?" he scoffed ironically in a blatantly mocking tone.

The funniest part about it was that this time at least, he didn't even _need_ to lie. He just had to tell only the few bits that were of some interest for _both of them_ , and let _him_ put the pieces together. In the wrong order, of course, but who cares? Everyone was happy with this.

"You mean that your real name is 'Bill'?" he deduced expectedly, but brilliantly wrongly.  
"Yeah. She might call me that." he shrugged jokingly.

Another half-truth; it was normal for anyone to call the former brilliant demon he had been by his name, right? And even now, obviously she had kept calling him that whenever they were on their own.  
William seemed surprised, muttering under his breath something that sounded like: _'I would never have guessed…'_ with an implicit _'It doesn't feel like it really suits you, that's weird'_ ; but the demon didn't care. His strategy worked and the teenager was buying it.

"So did you, um, _also_ hear about Mabel's plans for tomorrow?" came his next question.

It was so funnily innocent from the blonde to just deliberately ignore the fact that he was basically implying that Bill had been spying on them all along, and that despite everything he would not openly blame him for that since they both already knew that it would only be a waste of time and words for rigorously _nothing_.  
Well, he had just lost an opportunity to furtherly tease him and drive him up the wall, but apparently the kid had been clever enough to _just_ avoid that kind of topic in order to _specifically_ prevent that from happening.  
He was a quick learner, in the end. But still far from _his_ level, of course. It seemed like over time, despite his partial amnesia, he was starting to regain his good old capacities. Not to their initial level sadly, he was still quite far from it, but still— _now_ he was starting to feel like he was getting better at it than the rest of the folks, at least those around.  
With a little training, Pine Tree's brains could apparently improve a little. He was a smart kid for his age, after all.

"You mean that little _promenade_ in the woods? Of course. And I'm saying it again, but you should really go visit the Gnomes' tavern once in a while."  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He rolled his eyes. "You _do_ know how dangerous the region is right now, don't you? Are you really gonna let her in the forest on her own? N-Not that I'm not going with her, but…"  
"Tsk. Don't worry about that, she'll have forgotten about it by tomorrow anyway. You remember what day it'll be, right?"

After a few seconds, William beamed in sudden realization. 'Dipper' smirked.

"July the fourth." he shrugged. "Even if she _did_ want to randomly wander in the forest, Stan wouldn't let her. Not on a, you know," he rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatingly as he gesturally air-quoted, " _'family bonding'_ day."

Oh yeah. Bill _sure_ sounded like the guy who would _love_ those times. If he wasn't that unstable and potentially psychopathically dangerous, the teenager would have probably had a little more trouble to repress that little snort he was feeling in his throat.  
But fast enough, he was back to a more serious expression and his pseudo poker face.

"She'll probably just postpone it to the next day, though." he sighed tensely. "Will you be coming with us then?"  
"Nah, not in the mood. Besides, I don't think she'd want me to tag along anyway." the former demon shrugged, crossing his arms leisurely. He suddenly showed a hint of a mocking smirk and narrowed his eyes sadistically while glaring at him jokingly: "That's a shame though, I must admit I'd _love_ to see your face when you get to see that quetzalcoatlus."  
"Quetzal… _What_?!"

Bill snorted.

"Quetzalcoatlus." he repeated in a haughtily savant tone. "Commonly mistakenly named after its 'cousin', the pterodactyl. Used to live in the late Cretaceous times about sixty-eight to sixty-six million years ago mostly in south-west Europe and northern Africa and was not usually meant to grow any larger than about three feet tall, but a few of them managed to come here, evolve while strangely growing teeth and survived thanks to—"  
"I _know_ what a pterodactyl is, thanks. I meant, why not a _griffin_ while you're at it?" he ironized exasperatedly, throwing his arms in the air.  
"It was kept in some kind of hibernation inside tree sap in the undergrounds of the town, but seems like global warming is breaking them free." Bill continued arrogantly, ignoring him completely and _adoring_ his little spectacle.  
"How would you even _know_ all that? Another one of those things written in your old book?"

For one moment, the demon indeed felt actually surprised that he had been able to somehow remember _all_ of those details. He had to admit, he had _not_ seen that one coming.  
But he liked it.

As for the blonde's question…

"No, I was the one to trap them in there." he teased ironically, eyeing the ceiling annoyingly. "Seriously kid, where do you think I'd have heard from it?"

No matter how paradoxical it sounded and ridiculous it looked, it seemed like William had been narrowing and widening his eyes in the same time, staring in shock.  
Bill almost wanted to snort at that — that expression was just _priceless_.  
And yet he felt like he had still made a little mistake there.

"… _'Kid'_ …?"

Whoops. Yeah, maybe it would be a _little_ trickier to get past that one.  
But hey, being older than the sum of the whole humanity's ages didn't help, and it was technically legitimate for him to see any normal human as _kids_.  
… Even though right now he was supposed to be _twelve_ years old, and not a _trillion_ and some bits.

"Who are you calling 'kid'?" he retorted in a fake innocent tone. Maybe denial was the key. Or if it wasn't, well, at least he would still have some fun pulling his leg.  
" _What_?!" the elder chocked. " _You've_ been calling me 'kid'!"  
"Nope. Don't see what you're talking about." Bill shrugged teasingly. "Though your insistence _does_ seem pretty childish."

He grinned victoriously, and the teenager stared at him in bewilderment for a short while.

"You're insane…" was all he could mutter desperately after a few more seconds.  
"So what? Why would you listen to an insane twelve-year old _kid_?" The demon paused for a short moment, standing forward as to fake some sudden realization, while his face lit up and a sardonic smirk slowly crawled on his lips. "Oh wait, don't tell me. You're trying to make me talk, and you think that your current questioning is _actually_ gonna work. This has to be a run in the family, isn't it?"

If the poor child had not been already completely taken aback by any of his previous answers, _now_ he was. And on top of that— he now was bringing back even more allusions to things that he… He _shouldn't_ have been able to learn about them, right?

"What… are you talking about?"  
"Oh my poor, poor Willy. You don't even know where your father is right now."

'Willy' winced in shock.  
 _Alright, now I **really** don't like where this is going._

"H-He's working." He tried to ignore the fact that this kid _definitely_ shouldn't have been aware of _any_ of this, but it was hard enough to have to actually try to hide his ever growing panic. "He was supposed to come with us two weeks ago but something went wrong and he didn't show up."

A demonic smirk drew itself on 'Dipper's' face, as he was leisurely resting his cheek on his fist, the elbow standing on the table.

"And you don't even know what his job is. Pitiful."  
"How would you know what _I_ don't know?"  
"If you know what your father is doing, then please, do tell me. I'm all ears."

Silence was his only answer. The younger boy crossed his arms in victory and contempt.

"What _exactly_ do you _know_?" the teenager articulated as clearly and gravely as he could, desperately trying to hide his nervousness by slowing down his speech.  
"About what?" Bill asked innocently. "I know _lots_ of things. If you want me to answer your question properly, you gotta be a _little_ more specific."  
"My family. How did you learn all this? You can't possibly have started your 'research' just starting from yesterday, and— my parents aren't even on any social network. There's no way you could have learned about them that way."

The pre-teen pouted while looking away, ignoring him completely.

"You're not gonna like my answer." he whined pseudo-childishly.  
"I'm not gonna like your _lack_ of answer, _Bill Pines_."

The demon _really_ had trouble not to _explode_ in a gigantic and loud mocking hilarity at that one. That kid had tried to sound serious, and— oh for the love of _everything_ , _that_ confusion was just so— so… there was not even any _human word_ to describe how _pitifully ridiculous_ that was!  
That was almost cute, even.

"Oh, you _really_ are just like your parents."  
"Answer me." William was doing his best to look menacing, but he just sounded ridiculous. "Bill. What _really_ is going on…?"

As his smirk grew even wider than before — (was that even _physically possible_ to begin with…?) —, the demon leaned forward and glared at him with a macabre stare.

"Knives are sharp." he calmly said in a mysterious tone. "Think wisely if you want your mind to become too. That might hurt."

It took the elder a few more seconds before he could find his speech back.

"What is that supposed to mean…? Is that a threat? A threat for what?"  
"'Magic' is just a stupid name you give to things you can't or don't even _want_ to understand." William was about to ask what 'magic' had to do with any of it, but he was cut short immediately: "Denying its existence is denying your own aspiration for knowledge. You say you're a scientist, but you're all the opposite. You're just a coward."

The guy had stood up, and was now looking down at him with that superior look of his.  
The teenager tried to think of something to tell him, anything— but what could he retort to someone whose logic was beyond sanity…?

"You have your choice here, kid: you can just ignore us and run away like a coward, or you can start digging. And in that case…" He scoffed darkly. "I'll be glad to welcome you in hell."

And with that 'Dipper' Pines left.

⁂  
' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '


	16. Chapter IV — Part 3

_Pythagorician Thoughts_

**_Chapter IV — Third Part_ **  
**_Of Triangles and Men  
_ **

⁂  
, * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * ,

"Let me guess. Wendy asked you to stay here for the night and make me talk."

Soos glanced around him uneasily before crossing his arms pseudo-firmly, leaning back against the room's door in order to further close it with a slightly slamming sound.

"I'm sorry to do this Dipper, but… She told me you probably weren't Dipper. So now I'm, like, supposed to be watching you like a hawk dude."

Bill shrugged, not even turning his eyes away from the ceiling. Lying in a bed _really_ was way too comfortable to leave that position without any proper justification. Chatting with someone was not a proper justification.

So. _'Bonding time'_ with Question Mark tonight, uh. He still didn't like this, but at this point… well, it hadn't taken him that much time to realize that this would have been coming sooner or later. After that scene with Red earlier in the afternoon… It only was a matter of time. And no matter how much he hated to admit it, well, he was basically cornered by now. She had already figured out pretty much the whole thing – or at least, was close enough to do it –, and she obviously wouldn't let him go before he'd have spilled the beans.  
Although from the point that they wouldn't tell Stan… Maybe finally being able to stop impersonating Pine Tree to them would be a good consolation prize.

Besides… If he was good enough at this little game, Shooting Star didn't even need to know that _they_ knew. Right? That should prevent them from plotting against him. Soos didn't count that much in his mind, all that mattered would be to keep the girls away from each other.  
He'd just really need to get things to go smoothly this time. No matter how much he hated this, he'd have to find a way to _convince_ Red to _not_ tell Mabel that she was now in the confidence. But in a way…

He smirked. They hadn't been on the best terms lately, especially since the last few days. This would definitely be enough, if only on Shooting Star's side. She would want to find and save her brother on her own, that little cute gullible kid. She would want to prove she could fix her past mistakes all by herself. She would want to prove _Pine Tree_ that she _also_ was trustworthy, probably— more trustworthy than _someone else_ the little brat had a crush on and would have decided to _replace_ her with in his investigations lately…

Ooh, jealousy was sometimes _so_ useful.

The parquet cracked.  
The demon grudgingly glanced at Soos, who was looking down at the blue carpet he had been stepping on with curious eyes. It was normal for a parquet to crack, but this one apparently had been much louder than usual. Well, not like Question Mark's weight would be completely innocent in this, but still…

"Well, that room hasn't been taken care of for more than thirty years after all." 'Dipper' shrugged carelessly. "That was to be expected, I guess. You can't keep a parquet in good shape under those conditions. In Oregon, no less… The humidity definitely did something. I suggest you just avoid walking on that rug."

Soos glanced back at the ground beneath his feet and gave it a few more tries nonetheless, each of them making the planks under the carpet crack even louder than the last.

"It seems pretty bad. Do you think it's broken?"  
"Don't know, don't care." he shrugged again, rolling his eyes back at the ceiling while lying in Pine Tree's bed and wrapping his arms behind his neck. "Just, really, you don't wanna stay on that thing. Trust me."  
"Is that one of your… super demon mega knowledge thingy?"

The fake pre-teen closed his eyes and sighed annoyingly.

"I don't have that anymore, anyway." he growled in a mutter.

The man-child gasped and pointed towards him an accusing finger, his shocked expression apparently trying to align some incomprehensible words.

"Yeah, nope, was not going to try to hide it anymore anyway." the demon simply groaned resentfully. "Kinda grew tired of faking it. Way too boring."  
"So you really are that triangle guy from two weeks ago? That was, uh… W-Will, I think?"  
" _Bill_." he corrected _almost_ calmly, gritting his teeth. **_Please_** _don't call me the same way as that pitiful pushover, the irony's demeaning enough as it is._

Question Mark nodded slowly and thoughtfully, before awkwardly walking towards the couch and taking a seat.

"Now that I'm thinking about it… A lot of things happened two weeks ago. And after that. That's when it began to get all wrong. Well it was already wrong before that, but… That's really when you came that… Everything started to get all weird and… _bad_." He was not mad. He was just starting to sound sad, and the demon could not care less. That was cute, even, to hear him talk about that, as if he thought he _would_ feel sorry about it. And yet Question Mark would keep going: "It all started because of that Summerween night, right? What did you want with us?"

Bill suddenly froze. It didn't feel like it was because of what the handyman had said, but it still somewhat appeared to be related in some way, as his answer was… _unexpected_ , to say the least.

"Ya lo sabes. Gideon me invocó."

Had he just…  
Spoken in **_Spanish_**?

Soos was not really sure what to answer to _this_. He _did_ understand Spanish thanks to his Abuelita, and he could speak some of it himself, but… That was not explaining _why_ he was suddenly doing this.  
Oh, and, little precision: Dipper did _not_ speak Spanish. Or, well, if he did, then he had never told him about it, anyway.

"Sí, pero… No me dice mucho a propósito de _ti_. ¿Qué querías hacer?"

Wow, he hadn't practiced that language for a long time. He had been used to speaking English and this habit could be heard in his speech and vague grammar… Not like Bill seemed to care, though. Instead, for some reason he had actually got up from his bed and started to walk towards the door, carefully avoiding stepping on the carpet in the center of the room.

 _'What did you really want?'_ His question had been a classic and a pretty much expected one. But still, he needed to ask it.  
Bill hadn't answered. He had merely shrugged.  
But Soos wanted answers. Something had been bothering him from the very beginning with this whole story. Something that was not making any sense to him.

"¿Por qué has dicho a Dipper que vendrías?"

 _Why did you **warn** him on that night?  
_ And yet the demon openly burst out sniggering, probably at his _stupidity_ for not figuring that one out sooner. Not like it would be _fairly obvious_ , after all.

"¿No lo ves ahora? Sólo fue un empleo. Empleos son aburridos. No tendría _gracia_ si no haya nadie intentando pararme." he cackled, leaning against the wall right next to the door. Soos started to get worried because of his tone, but he could not care less. "Oh, y ¡ya no conoces la mejora parte! Si hubieseis traído _Estrella Fugaz_ con vosotros, _quizás_ habríais podido tener una oportunidad."

It also was in order to warn them about his existence and put them all back in place and show them how much of a threat he really was, of course, but… Well, fun also was important, right? And it wasn't like he would have wasted a chance to patronize them all.

Question Mark stayed silent for a while after this. And yet, there still was a question he had been meaning to ask for days, now.

"¿Qué has exigido a Gideon, a su vez?"

This time, for some reason, Bill cringed.

"Y no es todo… ¿Por qué estamos hablando español?"

And back he was to his snigger all of a sudden. That guy really was unstable.

"¡¿ _Ya_ no lo has entendido?!" For some reason he burst out laughing, as if this had been the most hilarious joke he had heard in years. "¿Nunca te ha pasado por la cabeza que _quizás_ , en este momento, _cualquiera_ podría estar escuchándonos?"

And with that he violently slammed the door open, revealing Mabel. Soos gasped silently in surprise, but the girl's hand hanging in midair and closing into a wimp fist seemed to have been about to knock; so maybe she just had really been there at the wrong moment and didn't want to interrupt them.  
And maybe she had been trying to eavesdrop on them a little, yes, that too why not.

In any ways, as Bill had been pointing out, speaking in a language she wouldn't understand had been an excellent way to keep their conversation's topic and contents safe and secret.  
Then Soos noticed that she was not even dressed for the night yet, and that she was still in her blue skirt and brand new pine tree sweater.

"Mabel? What were you doing?" he asked confusedly.  
"Uh… I-I couldn't find the key to my room." she started awkwardly. "So I thought that maybe _Dipper_ would know something about it…"

Her tone had strangely lowered during that last part, and she was now glaring at him with an accusing look.  
And, oh yeah, he suddenly remembered that he had indeed decided to steal her bedroom's little silver key, as a little vengeance for that prank she had pulled on him when he had tried to find the journal.  
Ugh. Of course she would immediately think _he_ was responsible for this. She wasn't that dumb.

"Alright, alright." Bill rolled his eyes condescendingly. "I've got an offer for you. You hand me the journal, and I give you the key back."

It was a shame Question Mark already knew the truth there. He could have used him maybe, since then it would be rightful for that girl to give back to her _brother_ what belonged to him.  
But maybe he would have to pass.

… The one detail he had forgot though, was that Shooting Star _didn't know_ that he knew. Heh.

"W-What?!" she whined. Just as expected, she glanced with some kind of panic at the handyman, who was just as confused as her and still couldn't put himself into mouthing any other word.

She seemed to grasp something in her other hand and held it tight. She strongly hesitated, and of course he hadn't expected her to accept just like that. But she would need that key sooner or later.  
And indeed she rather quickly sighed in defeat.

"… F- _Fine_. But don't you dare do anything b-bad with it."  
"C'mon _sis_ , you know I wouldn't." the demon recited solemnly, comically putting a hand on his chest and closing his eyes while pouting.  
"Yeah. Right."

Her teeth grinded, but she quickly gestured him to follow her towards her room. She didn't show him where she had hidden the journal and he somehow didn't manage to see _when_ exactly she had put a hold onto it — maybe she simply had kept it with her the whole time, now that he was thinking about it… —, but now that he was finally able to have some _physical contact_ with the book, a little smile of victory flowed on his lips as he gladly but absent-mindedly let go of her little silver key.

"Bill." she still muttered in a faint breath, her eyes down. "Can you take care of it… please? I-I mean… I imagine that maybe you really would be the one to figure that nerd stuff out and I hope I can trust you to do it right, but I…"  
"Oh can't you just shut up?" Bill eye-rolled annoyingly. "I'll take care of it and blah-blah-blah okay alright I get it it's all you have left from him or whatever other drama junk. So _yeah_ I _will_ keep it safe and stuff and I won't do anything bad with it, _alright_. Just spare me from the drama."

She wanted to say something, but he had already left the corridor and was probably back to his own room.  
Was she dreaming or did he honestly look like she had almost been about to get through to him? … Nah, she probably was just fantasizing about it. Even though for some reason she… really felt like she could trust him with the journal this time. Not with anything else – not yet at least –, but with the journal… He really did seem like he wouldn't want to burn it or anything, and… If there was anything in it that would help, he most probably would be the one to figure it out.  
Anyways… Time to go to bed. Maybe Dipper would come tonight?

"So… What are you going to do with Dipper's journal?"

This was the way Bill was welcomed by Soos. He seemed more frightened than threatening, and he found it funny to watch, but he merely shrugged and chose to answer honestly.

"Nothing bad, really. You know, it's not like I chose to be _stuck_ in this situation. Anything that _could_ offer some answers and help me out is more than welcome right now."

Question Mark seemed very surprised upon hearing this, but the former demon didn't really feel like explaining and instead just lied back in Pine Tree's bed before starting to look for anything of any potential relevance in that dusty old book.

"You didn't answer me, dude." the handyman insisted, only to his annoyance. "I know Mabel interrupted you but I really want to know… What did you do with Gideon two weeks ago?"

Bill cringed again.  
He _really_ didn't want to get into such topic. Especially now that this plan _had_ to be put on hold for the next three generations, at best.

"Something that neither Pine Tree nor I want _anybody_ to know about." he simply answered in a tone that was not hiding how much it was such a pain for him to have to say it. " _Especially_ Shooting Star. We both have pretty good reasons to keep her away from that stuff."

He glanced at the man-child, saw his insistent yet confused eyes, and sighed angrily before closing the book and putting it on his bedside table.

"Look. If I were to tell you, you'd either faint or spend the next fourteen hours trying to explain it all to Red. Funny, but not worth it. So _please_ just stop asking because I'm _not_ gonna talk about it."

He paused for a split second, but immediately added a _"Now good night."_ before Question Mark had any time to even open his mouth for saying anything else, then shut down the lights and engulfed his head into the blankets.

It didn't take him long to get to sleep, this time. It had been weird the last evening, and it still was a very odd feeling to merely let his consciousness _'shut down'_ just like that, and yet this time, it had almost felt natural. Maybe because he was tired?

But soon enough he heard a voice and realized that actually his consciousness was not really that unconscious right now.

"I thought I had told you to leave her alone."

The place they were in was pretty much… indescribable. Literally. From his current three-dimensional eyesight, his Dreamscape strangely felt like it was struggling to keep a proper hold onto what his old home looked like, and… Well, it wasn't pretty.  
And Pine Tree was there, too. And he looked so mad it was almost cute. Oh yeah, he had been so mean with his sister a little sooner in the afternoon. Ooh what a meanie he was. Ooh he was so scared.  
Really, that guy seemed like he was freaked out by the very place he was invading right now. How could he possibly take him seriously?

"Oh, and what are you gonna do about that, uh?" Bill joked, even though he was not smiling at all. "Lecture me all night and threat me with the most boring night of my life?"

Needless to say, the azure tree was not amused.

"I'll tell you something, smart guy." Bill continued with a smirk. "You may have my powers and you kinda did rule at getting a hold of them so far, but you made just one serious mistake." he grinned threateningly. "Summoning the Master of the Mind back to his realm."

Without waiting any more second, he summoned blue flames around his hands and prepared to attack— But suddenly metal chains appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him firmly and keeping him stuck and still in midair. Bill tried to fire some random lasers from his eyes, but Dipper had apparently opened some kind of portal that teleported the shot _behind him_ , getting his own shot to hit his back.  
The human could not muffle his cry of pain. It hurt just as much as he had wanted it to.

Pine Tree had not even moved a finger.

" _I'm_ the 'Master of the Mind', now." he stated in a low and emotionless tone.

Then his eye narrowed and gleamed with wrath.

"A͆ͧ̊͏̲̜͙n͕̟̗͈̄ͩͥ̾̏́̓ͅd͚̫̗̥̦̂̌ͪ͂ͬ͌̃ ̧̪̰̬̣ͭ̅͐ͮ̄͋͌y̨͙̞̳͍͔ö̫̦̙̗̹͍̩́́ͦͦu͚̱͕͇̻͓͙ͬͪ ̢ṃ̷̜͇̝ͬͥͅͅe̱̠͇̰̦̺̓ͫ̎ͪ͂̐ṡ̼͚s̤͍͇̻̖̠̦̆̆̄̂̄̎e̷̯̺̗̒͋ͫͪ̈ͧd̵̦͙̜̮̲ͭ̑ͪ̿̒ͭ ̀ͤ̄ͬͯw̘͛ǐ͎͖̘̐ẗ̨͎̫̱̠͕̝̞h͏ ͖̈́̇̋̾͑̾̀m͚͍ͅy̶̦̾̅͐̎͌ͧ ̘͔̟̲͗s̢̲͇͍̮̝ͣ̑i̻̮͎̼̬̭̿̊ͭͥͮͧ͑s̤̙͙̟͉̤̮ͨͫ̓͞t͎̪̋͑̔e̘̮̖̟r͖͈͕̱̦̊͂ͥ.͕͇̰̈̔̅̆̃͢"

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' * ⁂ * ⁂ ⁂ * ⁂ * '

_**~ Little precisions ~** _

Finally, the end of that endless transition chapter. NOW things are finally going to be interesting. Heheh.  
And it seems like Dipper is handling his new role and powers rather well, and that Bill might have been playing with fire a little too much.

Anyways, this chapter was full of hints. It could also be seen as a bunch of "revelations" if you want, but I foreshadowed most of it already multiple times before, and it's just that now it appears a little clearer than before. Anyone had noticed so far just how many events seemed to have started all at the same time _two weeks ago_? Heheh. I offer a virtual pack of gummy koalas to the first one able to figure out what happened :p

By the way, this one last cryptogram... is going to be somewhat tougher for you to decipher. Because you know what, it's Vigenere. I hid the key somewhere in the last five parts of this chapter. HehehehAHAHAHAHAHA 8D  
*coughs* No, seriously, I've been nice. I hid it twice, in the "chapters" (IV,2,b) and (IV,2,c). If you're trying to figure out how that works, just remember how it was in the show's Season 2: the key was never too far from, well... a key. Maybe the keys 'Ctrl' and 'F' should help.

**For those who don't speak Spanish, of course here is the translation:**

_(Bill) "You already know. Gideon summoned me."_

_(Soos) "Yeah, but... It doesn't tell me much about **you**. What did you want to do?"  
"Why did you tell Dipper that you would come?"_

_(Bill) "You still don't see? It was just a job. Jobs are boring. It wouldn't have been **fun** if there hadn't been anyone to try to stop me." [...] "Oh, and you don't know the best part yet! If you had brought Shooting Star along, **maybe** you could've had a chance."_

_(Soos) "What did you ask Gideon in return?"  
"And that's not all... Why are we speaking Spanish?"_

_(Bill) "You **still** don't get it?!" [...] "Never did you ever think that **maybe** , right now, **anyone** could be listening to us?"_


End file.
